The Second Messiah
by Phoenix of Rome
Summary: He has awoken after a long time, for so long he had protected Humanity in a different world, now he begins his journey to save Humanity once more. After all what is a Messiah to do, but help?
1. Prologue V6

**Yes, there is no Author's note.**

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

How many years had it been since his sacrifice? Centuries? Millennia? It certainly felt like a long time. Not that he would know, for he was far too busy in his work and all to free at the same time. With his constant companions, he was able to defeat Erebus each day with ease, he was the wall that kept humanity safe from itself, the wall that separated Nyx from Erebus.

Minato looked around sighing again, seeing the cars as they went past him. He was still accepting his newborn freedom from the seal, he was uncertain of lots of things -for one the Kirijo Foundation did not exist, neither did Port City in this new bizarre world, so he had taken shelter in the nearby church. He did not know how Elizabeth freed him, but he was certain it was her constant effort that finally freed him from his seal, or at least allowed him to move around he was wary of death if by some miracle the seal was still linked to his soul he could not die under any circumstance.

He was shaken at first. Ripped out of a fairy tale with no evidence of his past, of his life. He was left questioning his experiences, his life, whether it all existed all it or if it was a lone madman's dream, even then some part of him held true, the same Bastion of Humanity that had held Erebus each day, never had the walls of thus mighty Bastion buckled never had it trembled in front of the very darkness of humanity personified, and now the towers of this Bastion lit up brightly, it called for _them_ , those who stood with him all along the ride, those who accompanied him till the end and then he heard them.

The ones who refused to let go of him in his eternal prison, the ones that even now held their ground by his side. All of them came back, from Jack Frost to Helel, he almost spilt silent tears at the validation of his life. He had not given his life for no reason, his friends, his experiences, the humanity he sacrificed his life to save- it was all real, so he had talked with them, slowly he had healed the gaping hole in his life, he **was** the Messiah, he **had** a purpose beyond the great seal, a reason to live -from ancient times to the information era there was one duty those who carried his title were destined to do, protect Humanity, and so in Italy a new Messiah took his place and the age of preservation when those who professed justice and light had let go of justice finally came to a slow halt after the Great War, old flames would awaken, a new golden generation of heroes would rise, unknown to all the _second_ **age of miracles** had just begun, with the Messiah at its helm.

But for now, the Messiah had taken his time to mourn the things he had left behind, all the things he had lost and all the things he would never see. SEES, their High School, Junpei's constant uplifting spirit, Fuuka's gentle kindness, Akihiko's protectiveness, Yukari's sarcastic responses and Mitsuru's gentle strictness, they were not perfect -but then again no one was, if he was the Messiah then they were the pillars that had made him a possibility, they were the reason humanity's saviour was born from bonds forged in a war.

He had mourned for a while and spent his time exchanging what Yen he had on him to live around the nearby church, though he usually hung out in the church in deep thought as he conversed with his Personae. Michael had warned him of the mildly corrupt nature of the Priest in the church and but he stayed his hand resolved to not act till he gave any true reason, it was his Personae that had helped him through his darkest moment and let him recover.

Though through his Personae he could happily live in isolation, with them providing everything he could desire the Messiah had begun working odd jobs here and there, earning a basic living. Once his living condition was he started pondering if he should try joining a school, it was not too hard to join one, especially with his Personae, and here he sat in the same church once more pondering if he should join a new school and perhaps avoid brooding in the church all the time.

Thankfully languages never bothered him, with Solomon and some of his Personae helping him, increasing his knowledge subtly would serve him well if he truly wished to once more protect Humanity and Solomon's gift helped there.

In his information gathering want, he had met the one proclaimed as the Holy Maiden, Helel had come forth and confirmed her purity so they had exchanged greetings. He had kept a watchful eye on her, she seemed almost too innocent and so naive- maybe it was the greater affinity he had with light that made him admire her kindness, or perhaps he just admired kindness or maybe it was this nagging feeling that she would be in trouble, and Minato would never deny help to an innocent. It was simply not in his nature to stand by and watch as the helpless were attacked.

So he had chosen to investigate the Nun, through some careful probing and careful use of magic through Merlin they had managed to disguise him as an inquisitor and get some valuable data from the Church about the nun.

The Holy Maiden was an adored and respected figure throughout the church, and thus he was surprised to see the Holy Maiden run out with tears in he eyes followed by a more calm priest exiting the church, who was looking at her with fake contempt. And some guilt, was he not completely corrupt then?

Minato had wanted to follow the nun and inquire of what happened but Helel had requested he interrogate the priest first, it was then he sensed the slight disturbance in the air he tensed, Helel already equipped and ready to manifest.

"What did you do?" he said, quickly up slinging his bag back on, moving to face the priest.

The Priest broke away from his thoughts, "That nun is excommunicated from the Church for her crimes," he said, though his eyes were stuck behind him and they had the beginning of both horror and anger.

'Fallen!' Helel said, his apt warning was all Minato needed to dive out of the way of a Spear of light that embedded itself into the ground where he had stood a second ago, quickly turning to face the Fallen that had attacked him, he sighed, why couldn't any mission go like it was planned to?

"You dodged, I won't miss again human," The Fallen said, an arrogant twinge in his voice, the two-winged fallen was quick to prepare another spear only to be interrupted by the Priest stepping up in front of Minato, "No! You swore not to spill blood in the church!" he said, indignation prominent in his voice.

"And you swore to be alone, I suppose we both lied eh?" The fallen said, snorting sardonically before launching the spears at both him and the priest, only to fizzle out halfway through due to the intervention of the Messiah.

Minato sighed, why did everyone always want to stop him from doing the right thing? Time was of essence, therefore there was a need to go all out, "If you flee now it would save us both time, and time is something I'm short on I suppose," he said, as he was made his remark Helel finally took over, Minato's hair turned black and eyes developed a golden ring around his Iris.

The Fallen was quick to fire off his new spears, ignoring Minato's change of appearance only to find them dissipated as well, however now he was slightly wary and slowly edging back towards his exit.

"I forgot why you lot fall in the first place," Helel said, sighing, sometimes orders were meant to be followed he thought, annoyed at the rebellious child in front of him before he released some of his power, making sure none escaped the church, " **Kneel,** " he said, for once letting some of the power contained within him leak through. He was the lord of the sixth heaven. Impertinence was rarely endearing to him, especially when he was short on time.

The Fallen wanted to growl at the one who was obviously an angel, he wished to say something. He gaped as his body rejected his will and kneeled however that was nothing compared to the terror he felt as he gazed at the form of Helel, whose twelve wings now open for the priest and the fallen to gaze at, " _He_ has given you his light and yet you betray his faith, have you no shame, brother? That you would hunt the defenceless and taint the pure?" Helel said, his eyes blazed white for a moment, gathering information from the fallen's mind quickly, he honestly felt nothing but pity for the Fallen. Over the years many had given way to crimes and deeds best left unspoken, at the same time so many had fallen because they had carried out Justice, and curbed injustice. Indignation was fueled in him, Angels shouldn't fall for enforcing justice unless the sixth- _Oh Michael._ Helel shook his head in annoyance, his little brother and he needed to have a long overdue chat.

"I-i Apologise my lord," The Fallen said, he was quivering by now Helel had let go of the reigns that stopped held his power, "Please, I swear on my life I'll be better. I'll repent! I beg of you don't kill me," A well of pity was already opened in Helel's heart it only pained him further to see him beg like this.

Helel stared at him, without breaking his steely gaze, "Many of my brothers would have you slain for tainting our Father's gift and twisting his light. I cannot confidently say once I would have not done the same to you," Helel said, how could he slay the fallen when the one in front of him had fallen for breaking the policy of non-intervention and dealing his own justice, a policy he was against very firmly.

The Fallen closed his eye bracing himself for the blade that would follow, "But I am not the same I once was, and nor do I wish to slay more kin than I already have," he said, regret-tinged him as remembered the great war. Helel pressed a finger on the fallen's collarbone, and soon enough the fallen wing flickered away much to his horror and Helel's satisfaction.

"Live amongst the humans brother, repent but not for father, repent for thyself, redemption comes not from father but from within, and one day join the heavenly host once more serving father and his light," Helel said as his eyes lit up again balance would be restored, "The great preservation is almost at an end."

The Fallen looked relieved but quite aghast at the notion of losing his wings but the look soon evolved to one of grim determination Usually he would be adverse to returning to Heaven due to why he was banished, yet for some reason, he felt an odd connection to this Seraph in front of him.

And against common thought falling was not pleasant even if the act that caused the fall might have been satisfactory the fall itself constantly gave a severe feeling that always made them feel like the Lord was disappointed in them, but if the word came from an angel as strong as the one that towered over him then perhaps reconciliation was possible just yet and redemption was not some mad angel's dream, "I swear it by his name, I will not fail you again my lord, may we reunite again in a better time in the gardens of heaven," the Fallen said, and he was gently let go off as he left the church silently, "May I know your name, my lord?"

Helel smiled before letting his aura turn more gentle and activating his projection abilities,

 **Once I was father's most trusted son**

Helel's wings spread wide open, showcasing his pure white wings, all twelve wings displaying the colour of heaven,

 **The Leader of his legions**

An armour that was lost after the Great Rebellion flashed onto him, a sword long lost to Hell, and a face lost to time,

 **The Champion of his peerless light**

His light-filled the Church, the eyes of the Fallen nearly popped out in surprise at the outrageous thought that came to his mind, the light was familiar yet so distant surely it _simply could not be!_

 **I am Helel, Eldest son of God**

The Fallen slumped down gazing at the at the angel in disbelief and then at his wings before once more looking at the Angel itself before silently leaving after a nod from Helel, awe present on his face as he left.

As soon as the fallen was out of the church Helel turned to the priest, his eyes glowing white, **"And what is it that you have done?"** he said, utilising projection to get the information he needed without hurting the man.

The Priest squeaked in terror before quickly spilling his plan whilst flinching at the seemingly angered Seraph, he explained how they would send the Holy Maiden outside the protection of the church and to a rather untimely fallen plot. Helel just sighed at the stupidity shown by the priest, did he think the Vatican would let him live after such heretical acts?

With a snap of his fingers, the priest was knocked unconscious and his mind wiped of Helel's intervention. As the angel looked at the door he gave control back to the Messiah, his job done for the time being.

The Blue haired boy was quick to exit and sprint to the direction he could still sense the Nun in, aided by Helel, he was relieved at seeing the nun sitting on the bench with her luggage next to her safely. He didn't know if he should have intervened further, perhaps it was not his right to intervene, but no hero had left innocents to despair. He took a seat next to her, he might the Messiah but he was most certainly not the person to comfort the girl. He hardly made speeches like some of his more wordy Personae.

Supposedly the Nun had healed a devil and so she was excommunicated quickly by the priest who went into this scheme in return for the Fallen hiding one of his secrets. Curiously he had sent inquiries about the excommunication to Metatron, who was very clear and firm in his mind, 'The rules of heaven are strict by need not want Messiah, but if my assumptions are right the girl has not committed a breach large enough to actually be corrupted, I too can sense her aura it is still pure.'

"It wasn't your fault," he said, the blunt statement startling the blonde nun who almost fell of the bench in surprise, he never claimed to be the best at comforting crying maidens, Gabriel told him it's trying that matters. He wasn't so sure of that, but he agreed that trying did matter to an extent, though if Gabriel told him that to comfort him or not, 'I did not!'

"Do I know you, mister?" The nun asked, she was quick to hide her sorrow and greet him politely, had he not been here moments ago he might have actually believed about this act of hers.

Minato just shrugged, "Probably not, not many do," He said, even though he was the Messiah not many knew him in this world though that would probably change, "I suppose not anymore, but I can assure you your crime is far from unforgivable. Especially by those of heaven."

Minato winced as he saw the teary hopeful eyes of the nun, "Really? You promise?" she said, exited with hope shining in her eyes, was she really about to trust him out of the blue?

He hesitated, not knowing what to do before taking a cue from Helel and gave the best imitation of a comforting smile he could have, "Of course, I've got a good source for my information."

"Thank you, mister, although I will be leaving- the church still has me excommunicated and I have to go to the only place I'm allowed in a church," She said, wiping her eyes before smiling brightly at him, "I really appreciate you trying to comfort me."

Minato looked troubled, something deep inside him told him to stop her, to not let her go off to wherever she had apparently been invited to, "And where exactly are you off too?" he asked, trusting his gut, if it could guide him through Tartarus it could guide him through this situation.

The nun looked around a little nervously before leaning in conspirational, as if telling him a secret, "Japan."

Minato's eyes widened before a vain glint of hope appeared in him, he would be better off in Japan regardless, and a large part of him wished to go home even if home was not exactly there anymore, "Don't let me stop you," he said, smiling slightly as he got up after the Nun too dusted her skirt and prepared to leave, "But it seems both of our destinations," Minato said, smiling for real for the first time since arriving in this world, "are the same."

The Nun looked to stop him before he nodded at her before equipping Helel once more and swiftly vanished in a flash of white light, leaving behind a pure white feather that radiated light and hope. Glowing brilliantly showing the way through the darkness like the Morning Star had aeons ago when he served his father before he had rebelled.

Asia gasped as she clasped the feather clutching it like a precious relic, which in all fairness it probably was, before smiling brightly realising it was an angel that promised her she was not barred from heaven for an act so small, "I promise I won't fail you again, my lord," she said, before mumbling another small prayer Asia got ready once more, before departing to get a taxi -and then go to Japan.

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

Minato sighed as he unequipped Helel, before sighing again. Now he had to get to Japan, not that it would be a real problem with his Personae, the main problem would be the reaction of the 'factions,' about his personae any faction would be very creeped out if they caught him summoning one of them.

He'd have to use a Persona quite unrelated to the pantheons of gods that existed according to the priest. And the Biblical factions were there too, it stumped him why the Biblical factions would situate themselves in Japan, wouldn't it be wiser to situate themselves somewhere not so close to the Shinto gods? In all fairness the home bases of all three were out of Japan, so perhaps were they fighting over Japan? As it stood he'd have to pull a Persona used to disguise himself, and a quite powerful one as well.

He kept on thinking, delving deep into the sea of souls before smiling as the perfect Persona came to his mind, The Archmage Merlin- suitably powerful yet suitably human, the Archmage of Camelot would be the perfect escort for him, he was one of the most powerful humans to live on Earth, calm and collected he seemed inhuman at times but many a time the Great Councillor had proven his wit and might.

With a deep breath, equipping Merlin, Minato let his breath out, "Persona," he said, exhaling as a swirl of energy encircled him, bursting with radiant silver light.

With a swirl of energy a silver-haired man wearing a white overcoat appeared with a smile he winked at his lord.

 **I am the guardian of Camelot**

Minato shook his head with a sigh, "There's no one here Merlin, you're not supposed to do that."

Merlin pouted, pausing his projection, before raising his eyebrow, "Go on and ruin my bombastic entry, we'll see who laughs when you're hair is pink," He said, he had done it once, to Arthur.

"Bad Archmage," the Messiah said, and turned around preparing to leave -the threat of a prank fazed him little- and walked out of the alley they were in, "Come on we've got a plane to catch."

Merlin snapped his fingers making his staff vanish and his overcoat turned into something of a more modern design though it was arguably a blue trench coat was fitting but he was a mage and mages were known to be the oddest bunch, "And who'll give us the tickets, Messiah?"

Minato looked pointedly at him, "You're an Archmage of immense power."

Merlin chortled, "Excellent point," before he cloaked them and opened a portal. Before closing it after blushing as he remembered the last time he'd been in Italy was Centuries ago.

Minato raised his brow questioningly, "I don't know where the airport is," Merlin said, an embarrassed mumble escaping the Archmage's mouth as he pouted, "Come on this way", He said walking to grab a taxi and head for the airport.

"I'm not a child you know?" Merlin said, voice a little bit whiny as he followed his lord, taking in the looks of his surroundings, "Do you think we should do some research before leaving? Talk to the pope maybe?" The Pope would be glad to talk to the Messiah, even if he only chose to reveal Helel.

Minato stopped for a moment, before shaking his head, "I don't think so, the entire point of summoning you instead of Metatron, Bael or Odin is entirely to lay low for now, besides I came to know plenty by reading the fallen's mind," Besides he needed to take a closer look and properly assess the situation.

Soon enough they were on their way sitting in a taxi with Minato and Merlin gazing out of their windows watching the city as they went.

Merlin was already stretching his magical senses as widely as he could whilst maintaining secrecy, sensing for any danger or secret in the city and though it took nearly some time after they had boarded their taxi and after a whilst they were at their destination, the airport.

"We're here," The taxi driver grunted as they pulled up to the airport, startling Merlin out of his thoughts on how little magic he sensed during their drive to the airport before turning to Minato who was sleeping. It was rather shocking to see what once used to be the hub of magic be so dry, he could sense those with potential -indeed he had identified two with a mine of untapped potential but there was no grouping of magic like the old times. Except for light oriented mages but those were presumably the church mages they liked calling exorcists.

Minato's eyes flickered open as Merlin poked him a couple of times, "We're here Me-" he said, stopping at Messiah as his eyes quickly flickered to the driver and back to Minato, "My lord,"

Minato nodded and handed the payment to the driver before nodding to Merlin, as he and Merlin walked towards the counter they took out fake tickets that were charmed by Merlin. Japan it seemed, was to be the latest host to the Messiah. And so started a series of events that would change the balance of power completely, because the wild card had finally arrived.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Minato looked out of the window as their plane smoothly landed in Kyoto, he and Merlin were still following the nun, Merlin had already confirmed that his feeling was right so he had cast an illusion spell and they had been on their way to wherever the nun went to.

The nun had gotten off the flight and taken another car though this time it Merlin was quick to warn him of the malice radiating from the being, a white-haired man quite distinctly European in origin. That and the white-haired human reeked of malice even to his senses, and he was barely using any of the sensing ability he had gained due to equipping Helel.

Merlin looked confused, "They're going to… Kuoh Town?" He looked at Minato, "Where's that?"

"The Taxi drivers should know these details right?" the Messiah said, shrugging it mattered very little where Kuoh was, especially since he was not about to leave the nun with that horrid man.

Merlin blinked, "Do we have a plan, milord?" Merlin asked, he had faith in the Messiah and his prowess but he had always liked having a well-defined plan and advised Arthur to plan his campaigns as well and this was similar to those times when the promised king would have some bizarre idea and rush through to implement it with the subtlety of a bull.

"We go to Kuoh and prevent harm from befalling the nun till we find out what's bugging all the Angels out so much," It seemed the Messiah believed the best of plans were the simplest ones, much like Arthur himself. _We have no immediate plan_ Merlin thought with a wry smile.

As they hailed a taxi Minato continued to worry about much of what he learned from that fallen, but much of his worry was fueled by Helel and other angels but he fretted on his own as well. For Samael to be cursed for such a long time and Azrael leaving on her own -In a time when the only faction that he could support, _other than human but that is hardly a faction_ , was already down many of their strongest angel they could hardly spare two other twelve winged angels.

He had already thought about the devil reincarnation and after convening with Solomon, Bael, Metatron and Helel they all agreed that it was in all likelihood a corrupting and enslaving device no matter the intentions of those who revived the aforementioned humans, "We have to do a lot of things," he said, as a grimace took over his face as the memory of the Nekomata Massacre came to him, another memory he had gained from the fallen.

Though startled at the prompt change of tone Merlin nodded in agreement, "The situation is dire for Humanity, it's fairly easy to understand why you were sent here my lord."

Minato raised his eyebrow questioningly, Merlin smiled an ever-present twinkle in his eyes, "Well when the times are dark and the master of light himself falters who shall stand up and protect the innocent, but the Messiah himself."

Minato nodded in agreement, before finally deciding on his next course of action as their taxi came to a stop as they reached Tokyo, Kuoh was within walking distance- but before that, he walked into an alley to summon a Persona.

One that would protect the nun whilst he left to do something extremely important, gathering the well-remembered Persona to his mind, once more delving into the sea of souls he ignoring Merlin as he set up a small invisibility barrier and a moderate anti-spying field, " **Persona**!"

With a small flash of grey light, one of the most feared holy swords came into existence, with the herald of Frankia.

 **I am the greatest Paladin**

His armour as brilliant as the day he fought for his previous lord,

 **Heathens fear me and the Loyal embrace me**

His sword gleamed under the light of the sun, appearing nearly peerless in an ethereal beauty, had he not seen Excalibur he would have called it the most beautiful sword in existence.

 **My swordsmanship akin to my sword**

He had blonde hair and blue eyes, broad-shouldered yet lean, the perfect warrior,

 **I am the Paladin of Charlemagne**

He raised his sword, and it gleamed, in an expression that would make daemons and fallen quiver and angels roar in triumph,

 **I am Roland, the master of Durandal's peerless Blade**.

Minato just looked at the knight with a deadpan stare whilst Merlin looked at him accusingly, "Why did he finish and I get a thump?!" He said, pouting at the Messiah who just shook his head, slightly amused.

Roland smiled before returning to his poker face, "It matters little my magical friend, the Messiah has desires for our aid and we shall give it!" Merlin sighed muttering something about good-for-nothing knights and Arthur before nodding in agreement much to the amusement of both Minato and Roland.

Minato had given great thought to the plan he would commit to, in his sleep he had converser greatly with Solomon on how to proceed and they had the beginning of a plan ready, the first item on their agenda? Jailbreak a la Helel.

"I'll be going to the Greek part of the underworld, and try to retrieve Samael and then I shall seek and get back Azrael, that is if she wants to join us. Metatron and Helel will help in redeeming the first and finding the second, whilst I do that you two shall be looking after the nun," He said, waiting for a moment to get affirmative nods before continuing on.p

"If anything happens Merlin will open a gate to me and I'll come over. I have faith two of the strongest Archangels and the king of Olympus can handle not having me around for some time even _if_ they have to deal with Hades for whilst," The first agenda was extremely important, they **had** to bolster the strength of Heaven in the face of constant decline it had suffered across the Millenia. There was no shorter way of bolstering the strength of heaven other than actively getting back the twelve winged angels they could.

Roland nodded in agreement bowing his head in deference, "As you wish Messiah, you have my word that the Wizard and I shall protect that nun unto our death and beyond!"

Merlin nodded along before casting another level of secrecy, "There now the Youkai that were vainly **trying** to eavesdrop can't even try," He said, snorting with a huff, "As if they can breach _my_ wards, I will also do my level best to see if there is a way to turn the humans back from devils, Messiah."

"Well then, we should be on our way!" Roland said, his voice booming as he blinked innocently as both Minato and Merlin stared at him, "Is something wrong?"

Merlin looked pointedly at his armour, "You're a gigantic perfect blonde blue-eyed germano-french paladin wielding a holy sword that'll give the daemons nightmares from miles, _can you attempt to hide_?!" he said, the last part in exasperation, "I swear you holy knights do it to annoy me," he said, mumbling something about Galahad being just as annoying in this matter.

"You are a wizard, hide us, my friend," Roland said his blunt response only making Merlin sigh, though his annoyance had quickly turned into amusement.

"You're lucky I'm **me** , any normal wizard would never be able to hide you," Merlin said, waving a hand over the paladin, casting a concealing and an illusion spell on his comrade, why did Roland remind him so much of one of the boy scouts?

The Messiah was glad that Roland and Merlin got along, he was slightly hesitant about choosing the paladin above Galahad or Arthur but Galahad did not possess a holy sword not to say he was weak, in a fair fight both Galahad and Arthur had a rather even chance of winning. Arthur was probably going to release light all over Japan before restraining himself.

"I'll see you both in Kuoh," Minato said, nodding at Merlin and Roland, "I have a Greek God to make a request to."

With a flash of silver light Helel once more merged with him whilst this time he equipped him whilst summoning Zeus himself, the god of thunder and drama understanding the occasion and not projecting, though not for the lack of a desire to do it.

"Farewell Messiah!" Merlin said, respectfully bowing before turning away to leave.

"Take care Messiah, I can't think of someone better to redeem the fallen than you," Roland said, marching ahead of Merlin fairly easily matching Merlin's pace with his longer strides.

With that said Minato nodded towards Zeus, who nodded back and in a bolt of lightning the Messiah and the King of Olympus transported themselves to the domain of his brother, Hades the god of the underworld.

"You're not dropping the armour are you?" Merlin asked with a hefty sigh, why this was like that time he had gone * _undercover_ * with Lancelot.

"Never my friend!" The Paladin said, cheer dotting his reply only made Merlin sigh even more, nay not even Lancelot was this cheery, whilst they infiltrated the coven of death dragon cultists in the Catacombs of Paris.

"God help me," Merlin said sighing in amused annoyance, removing the barrier walking out followed by the Paladin of Charlemagne, "Better look for the nun," He muttered, snapping his fingers and subsequently checking for his tracer when it did not respond before snorting, it would have been too easy had it worked.

"Come Myrdin, there are adventures to be had!" Roland said, his voice boomed as he took off smiling, taking in the new looks of the modern city walking towards the general direction of Kuoh.

"Wait for me!" Merlin yelled, running to catch up with the Paladin who had naturally long strides, "Not everyone is a perfect human!"

Up ahead the paladin of Charlemagne boomed in laughter as he kept walking.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Hades was sitting on his throne, as usual with Persephone next to him as he let his bored gaze look over hell before a vast boom of thunder well _boomed_ despite being leagues away from the palace. And the whole complex being underground.

He sighed making his skeleton form vanish and taking on his more heavenly aspect of a raven-haired man wearing black and red robes wielding his Scepter, "Ostentatious as ever brother," he said, rolling his eyes, why would he ever come discreetly when he could be in his favoured domain of drama.

Persephone looked at him inquisitively, "Father has come my dear?"

Hades grumbled, "Who else is this noisy miles off I swear sometimes he does it to annoy Poseidon and me."

Persephone chuckled as one of the strongest beings complained about his brother being a noisy neighbour, "We should greet father shouldn't we, he _is_ our king?"

"No need the oaf's coming to u-"

Before Hades could complete his sentence he was emphasised by the doors slamming opening with a crackle, "Brother! I see you are well, you to daughter!" Zeus said, his rumbling voice was hard to miss.

Hades just nodded before smiling wryly, rolling his eyes, "when will you change brother?"

Zeus roared with laughter as he pulled in Hades for a hug, "Never!" Before hugging his daughter as well whilst the Messiah stood there, waiting for the family reunion to end.

Hades's eye twitched before it landed on Minato who was just watching this happen with a look that said he did not believe what was happening. Weren't they supposed to be enemies?

"How did you happen to come here, father?" Persephone said, the joyous mood was quickly cooled down by the appearance of the human, he felt _odd_ , holy even.

Zeus suddenly grew serious as he looked pointedly at Persephone, "This an Olympian level issue my dear."

She rolled her eyes and left their room, huffing, "Honestly I'm a big girl now, I can attend meetings too you know?"

Hades looked at him warily, raising an eyebrow, "An Olympian issue not being discussed with the council brother?"

Zeus just railroaded onwards, still looking more sombre as he faced his brother, "I shall endeavour to be honest brother, we are here to visit Samael."

Hades eyes narrowed, "cooperating with the Christians _again?_ " he said, his eyes narrowing with an accusatory glare.

Zeus sighed, "Brother please, you despise only those in the wrong here or have you begun to aim your bitterness towards the Angels as well?"

Hades just then snapped his fingers and a door appeared, "I have nothing against the angels, but beware she who guards the cursed, she was pure once, now… now she is something _unique._ Though I hardly feel one would face any trouble with her, she is after all greatly weakened."

The angel of death had exiled herself from heaven yet somehow perhaps because of the purity of her intentions she had not fallen yet, a unique case of an angel weakening so much without dying or changing colours.

Minato just nodded, agreeing to the request by Helel to let him take over, as his twelve wings spread wide he looked at the Greek god, " _By his name_ , which one of my siblings was not scared or foolish enough to permanently reside in the underworld?"

Hades stared at him before nodding once, "Azrael guards your brother forever hoping **he** would forgive him," Hades snorted sardonically, "It doesn't matter he's dead isn't he?"

Helel snorted this time, shaking his head in disagreement as he walked towards the door, "I noticed the lack of his constant light over us, he sleeps, he slumbers, he is weakened exponentially. But trust my word on this, killing God," He looked into Hades eyes, " ** _Is Bloody Hard,_** " he said, his self here had fought him four times, and despite being weakened so greatly not once they had come close to the feat of defeating him, not conclusively of course.

Hades stood with his mouth agape, in a position not befitting the god before closing it and opening it again, "Did that angel just swear?"

Zeus snorted, "I doubt he was on Santa's good list before that either."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Samael had always been a prankster joking and japing even whilst in heaven and his humour was well received usually, even by the heavenly father.

But his last prank was too much for even her father, he who had remained calm in the face of countless adversaries and his own child starting a war against him, like lava from a volcano his rage erupted furiously, he who had seen the consequences of Samael's actions- of the great war- had cast down Samael, to be eternally punished for what the events he had unleashed, she had begged father to reconsider- even Metatron tried to get him to consider shortening his sentence, just when it seemed like they would get him to budge both Metatron and he died.

But her Father refused to budge even before that, how could he ever forgive Samael when he had imperilled so many of his siblings? Perhaps he would have eventually spared Samael, she would never know for he himself perished avoiding the fate wrought by Samael.

She was shaking as she gazed at the one who entered the prison, she did not have much strength left- for so long she had starved herself of all that Angels thrived off, almost imprisoned with her brother. Thus it was a reasonable error she mistook Helel in his glorious light shining as brightly as old days when the Morning Star brought father's light to the people, "Fa-Father?"

Helel's eyes widened before rage flooded his veins at the condition of his sister, horrified and furious at the same time, he was thankful for the barriers that separate this place from the main underworld. For he could not control his own light as it radiated pouring onto the small prison as if the ocean was enveloping as island very briefly he felt like those old days, days when he was filled with anger and rage and only at the insistence of the Messiah he stopped.

Only to be horrified again by looking at his black wings, he had gone into his fallen form unconsciously, with great determination he changed back to his angelic form. His sister needed Helel the Morning Star, not Lucifer Morningstar.

At the same time, Minato took over briefly in order to summon another angel, before letting Helel take over again, " **Persona!** "

This one was an angel of metal, his metallic face shining with the same intensity of light Helel released had released, he was Metatron, the Voice of God.

"Aide Azrael brother, I'll see to Samael," Helel said, his voice was soft but underneath its softness, the iron of the former lord of the sixth heaven was still heard clearly by Metatron who nodded and carried a certain edge of steel in his voice.

Metatron walked over to his sister, gently holding her, before wielding the light of his father to do something he had often seen his father do, heal. Light flooded into his sister through their linked arms as she gasped, "B-Brother? You are ali-ive?"

Metatron simply nodded before pushing even more light to his sister, he would never be able to heal her completely, wounds and scars suffered over a millennia in a moment, **"All will be alright sister, you have my word,"** Azrael had already slacked in his arms, her wings rapidly blazing back to their pure white colour, Metatron cracked a rare smile, **"Sleep well sister, for today thy brother shall watch over thee, so says I, his voice."**

~o~o~o~o~o~

"Brother, always the radiant prankster," Helel looked down sadly, "Till one day you took it too far," He shook his head slowly, before gently bracing his shoulder.

"How many of our brother and sisters fell or died in the war that begun by thy hands Samael?" Helel said before sighing, what point was asking questions before healing him.

Helel was surprised to hear some mumble come from Samael's bound mouth his hands glowed as they moved across his mouth, "What say thee, Brother?"

Samael lifter his face, his hollow eyes digging into his brothers stomach deeper than any daggers ever could, "I...said to-too many," before tears begun pooling as they cascaded down, "I am so sorry...always sorry, I accept this punishment. For there is no redemption for one who has sinned like I, the daemons merely did the deed, I am the one who killed them all," true regret coming from Samael shook even Helel, who was taken aback, so much regret. His father had clearly underestimated how sorry Samael would be, and it became his undoing for he never repented for he never wished to leave his punishment. He truly felt as if this punishment was _just_.

Helel gripped his hands slowly pushing his healing light into Samael's body, "Usually I let those who fall discover such for themselves, but, you deserve another chance brother," he said, or maybe it was horror at the condition of his kin that drove him, but all the same he was never going to let such a thing stand, and neither would the Messiah.

He started unravelling Samael's curse, "Thee has repented," His body, once looking like that of a monster slowly turned back into one belonging to an angel.

"Thee has been punished," His arms were healed, his wings turning back to the murky black of the fallen but with each word from Helel they turned lighter.

"But the lesson thee must understand," His eyes healed as in front of Helel stood an angel with twelve brownish wings.

"That so long as thee does not wish in thy heart to serve his purpose again, to once more fly with our brothers of silver, to once more defend the righteous and the innocent from the horrors of the darkness," He finished healing Samael who stared back at him.

Samael himself clinging to each word, and slowly turning back to the silver city, "Redemption comes from within, neither I nor father could redeem you. Only thy can."

Helel looked into his eyes, "I ask of thee brother, who are you?"

Samael clenched his fists, a new flame appearing in his eyes, " **I am Samael! The Bane of Dragons** " Light flared from a third source as bright as Metatron and Helel, " **The Son of God!** " His wings as pure as Helel's, white without an inkling of black.

They turned to Metatron who had Azrael in his arms, Helel was smiling, "Let's get out of this hellhole."

 ** _~Fin~_**

 ** _As usual, feedback is the lifeblood of stories! Just something lying around cause deep inside we all like anime_**


	2. Chapter 1 V3

**A/N: To clear something up all the Personas have synced with their DxD memories up till the end of the Great War, and yes Zeus and Hades will eventually find out about Minato once they actually bother to talk to each other.**

 **I am using F/GO as an inspiration for** **looks** **only, and no if Gilgamesh features he won't have the Gate of Babylon nor will he be a blonde in Mesopotamia.**

 **Reuploaded this one as there were differences in plot.**

 **There will be no mindless bashing, but the devils will not have** **plot armour on their questionable morality.**

 **This chapter is V4.0**

~o~o~o~o~o~

Kuoh was a small town established very close to Tokyo, in Tokyo Merlin was keenly aware of the deities that kept a cautious watch over the city. Considering Kuoh was 'Devil Territory' it was no surprise the gods were absent from the city, it also made sense why devils and their servants were spreading around these offers to entice the local human population.

The Archmage of Camelot strolled alongside the Paladin of Charlemagne as they visited any spot a curious foreigner would go to, from the smallest of shops to the relatively large library they checked the various sites and scouted the town for any undue influence. And they found quite a large amount of devils, all ready to pounce at them in a moment, Roland and Merlin, of course, displayed none of the amusement that came to mind about the mere idea of a bunch of upstarts jumping them.

As Merlin and Roland continued their watchful trip through Kuoh they were wary at the relatively high amount of demons present in the small town that slowly became more and more obvious to their practised eyes, in Tokyo even though the Shinto and the Youkai had a vigilant eye they did not seem to interact with the Human population. It was different here, Merlin snorted as he tore the summoning flier, tossing it into the bin,

More surprises were there in the presence of the Youkai, or the lack of their presence. The Youkai were totally absent from the town, the further Merlin's senses spread the more he found silent dread creep in his heart, he could only sense Fallen and Demons in the town, with Humans who he was now almost certain, were under the influence of the Underworld.

Without a gesture or a word Merlin's magic spread around him and Roland, forming a small ward to avoid people from understanding them, "Something is wrong," he said, his eyes looking around in faked fascination, "The town is definitely a demonic outpost."

Roland just nodded his hand was twitching slightly, eager to cut down the demons with Durandal for the last hour, "What I do not understand is why doth the Heavenly host sit idle when the Demons take over an entire _town_ of innocents," he said, his mind flashed to the Nun the Messiah was intrigued by, "And why do they let a pious one enter this den of scavengers," As a Paladin he was anointed by the clergy as a Paladin and his own experiences had led him to be heavily biased against the demons even as he stayed his hands, he could kill them all but the Messiah had forbidden killing unless necessary till information about the factions was gathered.

"You know why," Merlin muttered, one hour in this town and he was already becoming paranoid putting upwards that he had not thought he would find utility for on a mere scouting mission to some remote town across the world in an island nation definitely not Albion, "You just don't like the reason," Merlin sighed, his eyes slightly downcast, "I don't like it either, besides I don't think the Nun is here with the assent of those in Heaven."

The Paladin just frowned, his disdain for the situation slipping through his eyes. Though he had nothing against the reformed Demons in the Messiah's service he loathed the ones that weren't under his lord's banner as they were usually the degenerate ones that stole souls, or at least that was what his memories told him, treachery had cost the first too much, if the Demons even dared to do it again they would find an early end to their combined existence.

He himself had no real memories of the Great War he knew well enough due not being alive for it but the more ancient Personae had memories of the great war, and how the Angels had only declined since the ceasefire. The Heavenly host had made no sortie since the loss of God as their leader, and it had shown as the demons slowly crept into power. For Pete's sake the foul ones had attempted to seduce him, _him_ the Holy Paladin of Charlemagne!

Roland sighed as his eyes once more rested on the Nun, peace coming back to his thoughts with practised ease, nodding in agreement, "Tis true, the host would not allow for the nun to leave for such an unsafe town," His eyes roamed the sights but his attention was focused mostly at the nun they were subtly trailing, "At least the Nun is safe," Merlin's eye twitched. Those were forbidden words.

"You idiot," Merlin hissed, lamenting the fact his partner uttered the forbidden words, then narrowing his eyes as a black haired girl tugging a brown-haired man, no a boy no older than sixteen summers, went past them his eyes flashed as he turned to the Paladin, "That was-" his pupils shined blue, promising pain and straining his disguise spell.

"A fallen!" Roland roared, for once anger actually reared itself on the Paladin's face. His hand was already preparing to unleash the Peerless blade on the offending presence of the fallen more specifically at his rage was imbued further by the clear corruption of a youth not even in his prime before another hand rested on his sword arm, preventing him from drawing Durandal.

"Another fallen approaches the nun," Merlin said, a dark undertone in his voice sending a chill down Roland's spine, harming children was an easy way to earn Merlin's wroth, to be fair the cord was there to be struck in most heroes. True to Merlin's word a blue-haired woman, very clearly not a human and definitely not an angel, approached the Nun and after a short word with her, the nun departed following the fallen.

Roland's eyes flared, as a Paladin attuned with a holy sword he was not fond of the manipulative ones, last he faced them he had been in bitter battle and they attempted to sway his allegiance to his honoured liege, "We must make haste before the Fallen harm the children!"

Merlin shook his head, in principle he agreed with the Paladin wishing to do nothing but let go of his careful control over his magic, but years of being in the court of many Pendragon kings had granted him a keen eye for deception, he could sense the corruption ran deeper than the surface they had seen, both the demons and the fallen seemed to be unaware of each other's presence. They needed to be cautious, the air smelled of a conspiracy "We shall split up, go and follow the nun without intervention," his own eyes were locked in the direction the brown-haired boy was tugged away to, "We are to observe as our Lord said, but it is for the best we avoid undue attention till the Messiah returns from Underworld."

He put his hand on the Paladin's armour, making a sizzling noise as rune appeared on his hand, "I'll call for you if I need your help," He said, a smile on his face, "If you require my attention then think of me while holding the rune. The illusion and the translation spell should remain on you unless you do something crazy, like unleashing the full might of Durandal," Merlin said, a bit pointedly at the man who had now withdrawn his hand from the hilt of Durandal.

Merlin looked around before picking up a pebble and casting another spell on it, gently linking the emergency ward of the pebble with himself and his lord. "Give this to the nun, it'll call for the Messiah or me if she is in danger."

Roland's face scrunched up in a conflicted manner at the mere mention letting the fallen go unchecked before nodding in reluctant agreement, Merlin was in many ways one of the wisest Personae in the Sea of Souls, with few like Solomon being greater in wisdom, "Very well my friend, I shall stay my hand," He gave another, more firm nod as he took the pebble, turned and started following the fallen that had somehow convinced the nun to travel with her, internally he swore an oath on his honour, the nun would not be harmed, for she was under the protection of the Holy Paladin.

Merlin looked at his retreating back with a critical eye, "Somehow," He said, as he started following his own target, "I feel as if I'll regret sending the Paladin after the nun."

As he departed he couldn't help but hope that the Messiah wouldn't take too much time, there was much to do and quite a bit of history to find out. Knowing just what in Messiah's name were the factions doing in some small town far outside the realm of Christendom would be gratifying to start.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Minato dismissed Metatron and called on Helel separately from himself, Metatron had been quick to explain who he was to both Samael and Azrael, who had been jolted awake by Helel. He was impressed how well they had taken to the fact he commanded both hell and heaven with nothing but acceptance and then Samael had bent his knee pledging himself to him, to the Messiah and his cause.

Though usually, he would have rejected Samael's pledge, the Messiah was more than able to see that Samael viewed service to him as a path of redemption, so with a silent smile he patted his shoulder before pulling him, "No need to bow," He said, his smile reassuring the Archangel of Destruction.

As Minato and Helel left Samael's prison the Messiah froze as he saw the two Olympian Gods still standing in the throne room talking about events long past waiting for him to come back, before accusingly glaring at Zeus who just shrugged with a helpless smile, 'I tried to get him out,' He mouthed, still smiling at the standoffish stare game Hades and the Archangels were doing.

Hades, though intrigued by the blue-haired human was more intrigued at what followed the Messiah. His gaze was filled with incredulity at the situation. Heaven had four twelve winged angels at the moment and following the boy were three twelve winged angels- just one less than the number in Heaven, yet he was more surprised by Azrael- the Archangel of Death was certainly not in a condition to come out with the splendour she did so with.

Minato coughed gently equipping Caesar for the next part, dragging Hades curious eyes to him, "We're done with our business, my thanks, Lord Hades. This would have been infinitely more difficult you not helped us."

"It would have been," Hades muttered before just shaking his head, "As long as you're not with the filth I do not mind," A smile flashed onto his face, oh by Olympus's highest peak this would be fun, three more archangels above the ground would radically change the balance of power.

Hades turned around and gestured towards the hallway, "I knew your father quite well, he was a gentle existence," His eyes clouded as if remembering an event long past, it was no lie, the former leader of the Heavenly host was very highly held in the circles of immortals. At least with those who were not the darker of the bunch, they were just scared senseless by him and they were right to do so. He sealed both the beast and still created the Sacred Gear system even whilst weakened greatly, "Please join me for some tea before you leave, it has been a while since the underworld has been host to so many generals of the silver city."

Minato grimaced, they were supposed to be back in Kuoh hours ago but Azrael's weakness had delayed them not even Metatron could patch millennia of light starvation, not in mere minutes. He looked at the three, Samael was gazing at him waiting for his instructions- the angel of destruction had chosen to follow to redeem himself in his own eyes and Azrael had already agreed to the same refusing to leave her brother alone till he finally got over the crushing guilt of his deed, especially after the ordeal they had gone through. It would be needlessly agnostic to refuse the Olympian God, especially with the help he had delivered freely, "I accept Lord Hades, after you."

"Well you'd know where the dining hall is, brother, after all that time~," Hades said, his voice now teasing, producing a small blush on Zeus's face.

"With your mineral fetish, I'd be surprised if the palace looks the same after a decade much after centuries," Zeus muttered leading the way or at least using the last known location that he could summon, whilst Hades looked at his back speculatively, why did his brother feel so different and yet the same?

He shrugged, "A god with an eagle fetish could hardly com _ment,_ " Only to yelp, ducking as a lightning bolt skidded above his head a smirk on his face.

Zeus' eye twitched, thunder rumbled in the distance "It's not a fetish, it's _taste_."

Minato sighed in resignation, it seemed Merlin and Roland needed to continue on their mission alone because at the speed things were going they'd end up staying with Hades for the rest of the day. Glancing at the gods bickering on taste he corrected himself, it might take the night.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Merlin continued following the brown-haired youth under a spell of invisibility, he had a solid illusion go around and rent a house as their base of operations. Looking at the 'couple' he wondered why did he have to be the one following two teenagers -well one teenager and one sadist- on a date, it made him feel like that damned pervert! A shiver ran down his spine, bloody pervert giving him chills even after he was long gone.

Unfortunately, his sense of duty won against the will to just set up and intent ward and abandon his post. So he followed the Fallen shop to shop, noticing her scarcely hidden distaste and weakly hidden power it was shocking none of the demons had acted out, it was hard to not sense the fallen. Then again perhaps they were just weaklings, the demons around him did not show the sort of power a demon was supposed to have, especially for ones apparently on guard duty.

And he could only sigh in disappointment as the boy let his lust agree to the girl leading him to a secluded park, do Humans really have some intrinsic want to die in _every_ universe? How was this not suspicious? He counted nineteen sneers and barely disguised sarcasm.

Stepping closer without taking cover, really he wasn't bothering to hide behind a bush he was the wizard of Camelot and he could turn invisible, he refused to suffer the indignity of hiding behind a bush like an amateur. He had magic and he was proud of it. So he summoned a chair within his invisibility charm and took a seat right in front of the Fallen and the youth, snorting as the Fallen started talking and seducing the youth.

"Would you do something for me Issei?" The Fallen whispered into the boy's ear, Merlin shook his head as the boy, his name revealed to be Issei, nodded fervently totally falling for the simpering fool of the Angel.

The Fallen got up, turning around with a twisted smile on her face, "Would you die for me?" The Fallen smirked at the frozen expression on Issei's face as he fell off the bench.

"Yuu-uma what did you say?" He was only answered by the two black wings that came out of her shoulders and the sadistic smile on her face.

"I said" She whispered, a spear of light taking shape in her hands, "Would you die for me?" She smiled, the smile most definitely looking ugly despite her apparent beauty as she launched the spear at Issei.

"No," the Spear was blocked by Merlin's bright blue shield as he stood up dismissing the chair and enlarging his covering spell, "Now if you'd just surrender and make it easy-" Merlin's generous offer was cut short, being forced to block two more spears of light, "Of course not, why would I ever think things could be easy," he snapped, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"What are you doing here wizard?" The fallen asked, looking at the blue barrier with worry in her eyes it was easy to see the disparity of strength. Originally she had expected the wizard to be weaker than her, it was only after a moment of clear thought she recognised the effortless magic for the show of strength it was. Now escape was the only thought on her mind, if only to tell her beloved Kobakiel about a new participant in his plans, a _human_ participant,

Merlin just snapped his fingers letting two chains of magic appear, "My name," the chains shot forward, "is of no use to you, what you need to know is that should this annoyance continue I will not be as forgiving like your white-winged elder brothers," His chains swiped at Yuuma one finding its mark on her wing despite her remarkable dodge, "For unlike Michael I have no mercy to those who harm the innocent so wantonly," His chains swiped again, and this time Yuuma wasn't able to dodge, shellshocked by the familial reference to the current leader of Heaven, the chains as they wrapped around her pulling her to the ground.

"Tell me, what is your name Fallen?" Merlin was also keeping an eye on the boy who had scrambled back till he hit the edge of the field wall he had put up, "There is no point resisting me, you'll find I have learnt very well from my past. Monsters like you get no mercy from me" The chains tightened momentarily causing Yuuma to gasp in pain.

"I'll speak!" The chains finally loosened marginally, "I am Raynare of the Grigori," She flinched as Merlin gained an enlightened glint in his eyes, the Fallen -as they knew due to the first one they met in Italy- were in two groups. There were those who were in Azazel's Grigori hiding under the veneer of false benevolence and those who had gone out on their own way, usually he would kill the Fallen, not really due to his orders he'd have just imprisoned her until the Messiah came back, unfortunately now a more intelligent capture was a more preferred outcome.

"Well speak then, I don't have all day," Merlin huffed in annoyance summoning two chairs, "Sit down lad" his eyes softened a little, "It must be a hard day for you, it's not every day you get nearly murdered by the fallen," Issei looked at the chair before nodding dumbly and taking his own seat.

"As I was saying we were sent here on behalf of the Grigori to watch over the devils and make sure they're not breaching the peace and attacking the humans!" It was a weak lie, to anyone who knew anything about the current status of the three factions would automatically know it was a lie, but Merlin didn't know anything about the three factions after the great war, but he was Merlin the strongest wizard and his years at the royal court had made him proficient at reading people. Yet he ignored her, those same years of intrigue had also taught him a lesson about gathering information, she would be his spy within her group and everything would be clear soon enough anyway, mostly due to her generous help.

'Grigori, the watchers…' Merlin pointed towards Issei, "And you were trying to kill a human while protecting him from demons? Why with protectors like you there'd be no need for the demons to attack" he said dryly, he was mentally already digging as much as he could before she could find out about him messing with her mind.

Raynare tensed before committing to another lie, though this one was far closer to the truth, "He wields a sacred gear a gift by _him_ I was irrational in my hatred of him, I beg for clemency, it will not occur again."

"Oh, Sacred Gears? Tell me more my dear fallen, it seems you'll live after all," he said, before the chains suddenly tightened, "And try to lie less, I haven't got all of eternity to interrogate a low ranking fallen," she gasped before nodding frantically at his cross voice at her frivolous lies, he had no time for them, not when a topic that seemed this important was to be discussed.

As Raynare begun to speak hope sparking within her Issei interrupted her again, "Oi mister, she tried to kill me!"

Merlin nodded, "She tried and she failed, trust me boy I won't let the Fallen or the Demon slaughter the innocent of this town, you have my word," he was serious, already he was preparing plans to neuter anyone with hostile intent towards humans, or mortals.

Issei huffed, "You can't forgive her just because she has a good bust!"

Raynare looked at the boy with disbelief in her eyes whilst Merlin just looked at him wondering if he should talk some sense into him before ignoring the boy's outburst and asking a more important question, "You're not shocked about wizards, fallen angels and demons?"

Issei nodded slowly, "If there are bad guys like them then there have to be good guys like you, right?"

Merlin just shook his head, had the Messiah not played intervention he'd be dead and the nun would be in a position only god knows, but then again it was the job description of the Messiah to turn the tides in favour of Humanity. Well not exactly, but he digressed, "Tis true, continue your tail Grigori, do not tempt me to send your remains to Azazel"

His barb finally got Raynare to focus back on their conversation, as she began her lies, or at least truth for this topic, once more, "Sacred Gears" She pursed her lips, "They are weapons made by _father_ given to humanity, not that they control any, the devils control the highest amount then the Church" _followed by the Grigori_ remained unspoken but as a surface thought was picked by Merlin.

Merlin nodded, loosening his chains further, "Explain better will you?" Inside a torrent of emotions woke up clashing with each other, the demons controlled weapons forged by god, that was not good news, not at all. He didn't know of a single persona that would like such news, Bael would sneer in disgust for using weapons forged by the enemy of hell and the usually composed Metatron would rage in fury at demons usurping his father's will. The Messiah himself, much like himself, would be worried why weapons meant to protect humanity from the supernatural were not in the possession of humanity in the first place.

He looked at the brown haired boy -Issei- and secretly let a magical tether port out the demonic flier that was with him into his possession, and behind the bush, discarded. The Demons would not get their hands on a child whilst he was present. "You should leave now," He said, standing up and opening his barrier partially, "Your family must be worrying for your safety child."

He saw Issei give a hesitant glance at Raynare, "It's okay Issei, I won't let any harm come to you or your family," he promised, a charm to calm him laced in his voice.

Issei tried to protest, "But what about-"

Merlin cut him off, "Just don't tell anyone about this," He said, adding a weak compulsion spell to keep the supernatural secret on Issei, "I'll talk to you later, you've been given a responsibility and I won't let you face it without training."

Issei looked uncertain but still left, slightly urged by his weak compulsion charm and calmed by the previous spell, him with his mind conflicted, thinking about the mage and the supernatural and his usual perverse thoughts, never noticing his flier no longer being in his pocket due to the chaos surrounding his thoughts as he left.

Merlin watched the boy leaving and then closed his barrier again, a spellbound page already rising with a pen writing furiously. His eyes centred on the Fallen Angel, a grin gracing his face causing her to flinch, "Now then my dear Fallen, let's have a chat eh?" Unfortunately for her, out of the two of them only he knew he wouldn't actually torture her.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Usually, it would be tremendously hard for a warrior to do a job befitting a rogue, or someone not as bulky as him.

Thankfully Roland was a fully trained Paladin, the wielder of the peerless blade. As Merlin had chased after his charge Roland had made sure to follow the nun, as discreetly as he could thankfully Merlin's spell went a long way in helping him stay hidden. Sneaking about was easy and though he was not a wizard and couldn't just barge in without ruining the purpose of his mission he was a very well trained paladin and stealth was a part of their usual training, especially for the Paladins of Charlemagne, the best of the best.

Swiftly following them, his feet barely evoking any noise Roland followed the fallen and the nun far better than any of his statures had a right to, his mind solely focused on his task and so he followed his trained eyes making easy progress, as the nun and the fallen went into a church, an abandoned one with most of its heraldry vandalised in the foulest way. Despite ignoring the act of heresy the Paladin's hold tightened around Durandal, as he walked through the hallowed halls of the church with quiet steps and remaining in the shadows to stay out of sight of the various exorcists before he finally found the nun again, conversing with the fallen, silently he thanked Merlin's spell for saving him from certain discovery.

"Why does the church need me here? It was a pleasant surprise they took me back but why all the way in Japan?" Roland's eyes shot up, the church? The church would never want her with the fallen! He almost drew Durandal right there, anger almost boiling over. First, they desecrate his faith, then they entrap the innocent and now they coerce an innocent into their schemes. It was clear the Fallen had not changed at all since the time he had lived, he forced his hand to leave Durandal's hilt, letting deep breaths leave his lungs as he calmed himself before he revealed himself due to his wroth at the fallen.

"We need you to heal our exorcists as we protect the humans from corruption, the Devils have quite a hold on the territory here, it is hard to heal the faithful especially as we work to eliminate the evil influence on humans here," the blue-haired fallen said, quickly waving her concerns away and soon she was off leaving the nun to her own devices, clearly not believing the nun was capable of escaping on her own.

Looking around and after making sure there was no one around Roland knocked and entered the room, gently closing the door he turned towards the nun as her eyes fell on him and widened, "Who are you?"

"I am Rolio of Tirol, a Templar of the Church," He said, gesturing at the chair and sat on the bed himself, letting the nun take the more comfortable chair, "Hello, sister" Roland said, a smile on his face, "I am here on a secret mission from one of the Cardinals."

He looked at her firmly, "As such tell none I appeared before you, for none must know of my mission."

Asia nodded fiercely, "I swear mister templar, I won't tell anyone" Roland smiled as her face scrunched up in intense focus.

Roland retrieved the pebble Merlin gave him from his armour and handed it to Asia, "Keep this with you at all times, sister, I am to find out what the devils are doing in the town and protect the innocents if I can".

Asia gasped even as she too the pebble and dropped it in one of her pockets, "Be careful mister templar, may the Lord be with you. I shall pray for you."

Roland just nodded before pressing on the mark on his armour, unknowingly dropping the spell that hid his clothes (despite his aura still being hidden) his back turned so he didn't see the look of awe in Asia's eyes as she saw his armour and his sword that looked holy from afar even though it had given out no such aura, she yelped as she saw a small portal open up in front of her only for the Paladin to travel through it, somehow Asia felt everything would be alright despite the bad feeling she had about her current assignment.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Minato looked at the assembly of beings that had supper together, the Messiah not that Hades knew anything about him being the Messiah, Zeus, three Archangels one of whom was the former lord of the sixth and Hades himself, suitably everyone but Zeus and Hades were also feeling slightly odd at this amalgam of cultures, "Anything on your mind boy?"

Minato just waved at those seated around the table, "It is an uncanny group of individuals to have a supper together."

Hades nodded, a smile on his face "Quite so, last time it was Michael who visited me- to ask that I stop in my efforts to agonise the pests, are you lot the same now? Sympathising with those damned devils?"

Though they had learned of the hints of divergences between demons and devils, the Olympian God was most helpful in filling the gaps in his former prisoners knowledge, and how the modern devils were widely different he and Hades had a common opinion that the sacred gear belonged not the devils but to humanity, "I think I speak for all of us when I say the devils are only looking good because we compare them to their soul-destroying hell raising brethren that waged war with heaven long ago to gain dominion over the realm of man," Minato was very clear about that. Yes, they were better, but how in the heavens could they be perceived as good? Even after the massacre of so many innocents in the Youkai _incident._

Azrael shook her head glaring at Hades, refusing to believe Michael would ever support them, they who slew their kin endlessly "They are far better than before but it is clear they still run on greed and desire, perhaps they don't destroy souls anymore but is stealing away the potential of humanity any better?" She turned to Hades, "Why would Michael want such a thing to stop? Surely heaven has not begun _appeasing_ the Devils?" Azrael was confused, though she had not seen Michael for years when she left he was a fair yet firm leader, still leading many sorties to stabilise the situation and regrouping the Heavenly host after they had nearly shattered due to Metatron's death in battle.

Hades snorted, "After the great war heaven was the one that lost the most and now the devils are reproducing faster than ever, for each child the purebloods have they get a possible 16 more, with _him_ (Here Helel snorted, still refusing to believe anything could strike his father down) and Metatron both gone Angels have started falling at a higher rate than ever before Heaven is _losing_ its angels, they _can't_ protect humanity like they used to once, not when there are those like Sirzechs Gremory and Serafall Leviathan in the ranks of the devils still active and seeking to expand the power they hold."

Samael just looked down, horrified that it was mostly his doing that brought this on, before looking at Hades fiercely with his aura flaring briefly, "It is different now! They have **I,** the Angel of Destruction, demons routed at the mere mention of my name! One more is nothing I cannot handle!"

Hades looked at Samael before nodding, "That is true perhaps with three of you back Michael will have greater luck in forcing the Devils to give up their sacred gears, or maybe he can fix the system- Sacred Gears were never a lottery, not until recent times, they always went to the meritable I suppose it's predictive power has slowly eroded, or it's twisted with his fall," Hades shuddered remembering the last wielder of the Longinus, how he got it he would never understand.

Helel was about to go on a tirade at Hades, incredulity finally reaching a breaking point before a letter blazed into existence on Minato's lap, who proceeded to read it covering its content from the others. As he went on reading the letter that turned out to be a rather detailed report from Merlin his eyebrows kept rising in worry, before he stood up with narrowed eyes, "Apologies Lord Hades," he motioned at Zeus who nodded, "It seems we are direly needed somewhere," A portal appeared in front of him, and Merlin's head popped in, he had followed his letter at a timely interval and was suitably shocked at the dining gods. And irate at the god of the skies for preparing to travel back to Kuoh as indiscreetly as they had come, "For god's sake don't come in a flashy bolt of lightning when I can come to pick you up."

Hades snorted before waving his hand and producing a blade, it was very plane not decorated or having anything etched into it other than a simple gold line going to its core. Yet it radiated a deathly aura of coldness and ethereal light almost reminding Minato of Thanatos, the god of peaceful death, whilst Azrael smiled at Hades.

Hades just gestured towards it, "I believe this blade is yours Azrael, I have been its custodian for a long time. It is time for its true wielder to possess it once more."

"Thank you, Lord Hades," Azrael said, taking her blade, it's sheath manifesting on her waist while she sheathed her blade with no fanfare, which almost sung in harmony after being reunited with her master for the first time in Millenia.

Minato nodded to Hades and quickly entered the Portal, soon followed by Helel, Zeus and the two angels.

~o~o~o~o~o~

After they had entered the house Zeus had been sent back to the sea of souls with Helel sticking around and Samael and Azrael sitting around the dining table, with Roland joining them as well.

Minato looked imploringly at Merlin who gave a sigh at their sitting arrangements, "Delegated from the Roundtable to the dining table," he said, his tone overly dramatic, winking at the Messiah earning a small laugh from Azrael.

"It is crucial that we share information that we have learned," Merlin nodded and produced a notebook from his pocket, "From what I've observed, the demons control this town with the heirs of Gremory as Sitri controlling the town," His face twisting into an odd frown, "with them running a _school_ of all things"

Minato's nose wrinkled in distaste as Bael's usual mocking filled his ears to inform him who exactly were these two clans, "Both the seducer clans in the Human world?"

Merlin nodded, "And running a school, furthermore, it _seems_ as if they had intended to let a human wielding a sacred gear die so that they'd be able to recruit him into their peerage." This did encounter outcries as Samael and Azrael both detested the death of innocents and devils in general due to them only having memories of the devils from the war, "Yes, it is distasteful, I captured the fallen that tried to murder him in the first place and erased her memories of us and released her."

Minato raised his eye at the mention of the release imploring the mage to continue, Merlin shrugged, "I may or may not have cast an extremely powerful eavesdropping spell," He smiled impishly before railroading on, "I've also found summoning posters the demons wave around to gain power through contracts, though after I summoned one."

Noticing the looks of alarmed incredulity he rolled his eyes, "Yes I did make sure to cloak everything properly I'm not an apprentice, as I was saying they do rather mundane tasks and take mundane payment instead of souls, I even offered my own and the demon -sorry- devil laughed and shrugged it off. It is truly astounding they have actually changed but I'd still ask you to dwell cautiously, Messiah, the change might as well revert should they know who it is they're dealing with."

Minato motioned for Helel to start their side of the story, "We found two twelve winged angels and that Hades is a real swell person for those who don't have bat wings or are flying cows-" He stopped as Merlin flicked his head, "About the demons Helel, about the demons." Merlin said with a wry smile.

"Are you sure, I was just about to get to Persephone?" Helel asked with a smirk letting his wings turn slightly dark as he squiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Loathe I say it, stay on topic before you revert to -as you eloquently put it- a flying cow," Merin said, shaking his head at Helel's antics.

Helel smiled roguishly, "Well demons died, apparently by the end of the great war only watered down descendants like devil continue to live, whilst not so bad when compared to demons" He made a slightly disgusted face, his demonic form was something he himself had grown distant from during their stay in the seal, "They are still abhorrent by any decent moral standard, Hades told us plenty about the peerage system and I just have one question, if you are employed under a certain contract and not told the full extent of it and then told should you desire to not follow _an_ order you are liable for execution or horrid mutation, is it not slavery? To be tricked into a contract that says follow the orders or be executed or mutated."

Merlin's eyes glittered with rage at the implied consequences, "Messiah I must request you let me go to Albion, there are relics there that help me make the reincarnated devils back to their own race and old acquaintances that would never refuse me aid."

Minato gazed at Merlin, he understood why Merlin wished to go to Britain, to create Albion and protect its people was his and Arthur's dream, for their people to once more be enslaved might have caused such a reaction, "Leave after the current situation is dealt with, I'll send Arthur with you, he wants to see what has become of his legacy too."

Merlin nodded, "Then I'll be off, I'll check the wards and start my project though I might need these 'evil pieces' to truly make progress."

Roland was next to get up, "I want to go back to the sea of souls Messiah, I need to think on this and talk to my fellow knights and paladins on this," With a nod from Minato Roland vanished back to the sea of souls.

He brought another Persona to the front of his mind, He smiled at the Angels, " **Persona** "

His metallic wings as radiant as ever, face once more stoic, authority leaked out of him and his holy aura though concealed still managed to leak out a little, not even he could conceal his light -he was after all another former lord of the sixth.

Minato yawned, "I'll leave you four to catch up," he said, as he left for his own room. Much had been done but immense tasks still remained to be done tomorrow.

Metatron looked at his siblings, for the first time properly meeting them, he pointed to the array of fruits, " **Come let us Convene brothers and sister, it has been to long since I have been stuck with Helel and his mug,** " Metatron said, a smile on his face even as Helel pouted while the jaws of Samael and Azrael dropped.

"D-Did you just joke brother?" Samael asked, forgetting his irrational fear of the voice of God in favour of gaping at the humour that the angel had apparently developed after his disappearance.

Helel snorted, "I object to that, I can say without falling my mug is a divine artefact of beauty," grinning toothily he pointed to his white wings, "Angels do not lie."

By now Samael had overcome his shock and the prankster in him somehow slipped through letting out a gale of laughter overshadowing Azrael's softer laughter at their brother's antics, it reminded them of the good days, when Father still stood like a towering titan they frolicked around the cosmos united under the silver banner.

Helel sighed sadly before poking Azrael's nose, "Don't hold onto such regrets sister, it is often these regrets that haunt us the most."

Azrael wiped her eyes, "I know, Divine artefact of beauty" A smiled on her face as she ended.

Helel clutched his heart dramatically, "Betrayed by my little sister! Woe me!"

The future may have held many things for the four angels, but that night they truly enjoyed themselves like days long past.

~o~o~o~o~o~

"Messiah, wake up Messiah," Minato opened his sleepy eyes, wiping them reflexively as he looked at Merlin, his eyes screaming murder for waking him up

Merlin gulped before smiling with forced cheer, "You're late for school Messiah!"

Minato's eyes shot open, " **What**?"

Merlin smiled sheepishly, "Well, you see I thought it best that to truly determine a way to scout the school and demons in it, protect the humans and look over the Issei boy. I watch over him through magic but I promised either I or someone else would talk to him, to clear up the new surroundings he has found himself in."

Minato groaned, just when he didn't heave to go to school anymore he was being forced to return to school, he stood up and looked at Merlin, conveying his will through a glare alone, "You just want me to suffer for not letting you have the flashy entrance"

Merlin winked and with a snap of fingers Minato was dressed in a black blazer with a black blazer with white accents over a white, long-sleeved button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes, "Why can't Roland go?"

Merlin gave a blinding smile, "Oh he'll be going to, as your fellow transfer student."

Minato could only give a look of incredulity before summoning Roland, who came in a Kuoh uniform rather than his armour, with Durandal still unsummoned.

Minato nodded at the Paladin who was also looking at Merlin, "I swear no harm shall come to thy body till I exist Messiah!"

Minato just nodded and walked downstairs to grab breakfast with Roland following him and Merlin going back to his research after a quick good luck to both of them and reminding them to carry their books.

As Minato entered the dining room he was awed by the amount of food on the table, with Azrael setting the last plate down, "You made this Azrael?"

Azrael blushed in embarrassment, "No Messiah, whilst basic cooking is within my reach it was Samael and Helel that made this meal."

Metatron nodded in empathy, " **I too feel inferior to Helel sometimes sister,** " Metatron lamented, thinking about his non-metallic sibling and how he was too fabulous to be true.

Azrael looked at him, so did Minato who was beginning his meal already abandoning the dream of arriving on time, "And how do you feel better?"

Metatron smirked, " **By remembering he crashed into Mars instead of landing on the Moon whilst we were racing.** "

Helel clicked his tongue, as Samael looked at him as if actually having trouble imagining the same Morning Star who could have fought Father, albeit whilst he was weakened, once miss the Moon?!

Minato too looked at him and Helel only retaliated once, "I have no regrets" he huffed, enduring the chuckling that accompanied the revelation made by Metatron, as even Minato cracked a smile at the former fallen angel.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Minato and Roland stared back at the student council president of the school, both had encountered a large lack of orgies according to Bael, and had been thankful for the seemingly restrained devils.

Then again she was glaring at them for being late, "You are late on our first day Minato-san."

Minato only nodded in agreement, "We apologise president." he said, letting the matter drop no need to fight them now, their judgement was to be based on their behaviour, not his perception of their kin.

Sona was tempted to deny their applications but considering the rather nice man that had enrolled them (if only she knew it was Merlin) she decided to give them a pass for this once, "Be on time next time Roland-san, Minato-san."

As the first bell rung the Messiah's regrets were born anew.

 **~fin~**

 **Betaed by nobody**

 **Is the grammar better for this chapter? I tried to keep it more smooth this time around and spellchecked it quite a few times.**

 **And Roland is not using an alias because no one will think Roland is the Paladin of Charlemagne, They'll just think he looks European- because Roland has died in otl and everyone knows that, besides, who'd see a Blonde dude named Roland and go, 'Wait is that the Paladin of Charlemagne?"**


	3. Chapter 2

**~o~o~o~o~o**

Soon after their confrontation with the president both Minato and Roland were led to their class by the Sitri, all the whilst Roland was looking around seeking corruption whilst Minato was having a conversation with Bael.

'This is a disgrace! Utter bullshit! How can my descendents be so weak?! I had Legionnaires stronger than her! She is a clan heir to one of the Pillars! This is absurd, unacceptable!' Needless to say Bael was disappointed at the current devils, though it was probably good for Minato if the demon king was horrified of what happened to his people.

Metatron was vainly trying to keep the peace 'Calm down you big volcano of malice', Helel's constant guffawing at the devil king made him only more furious at his circumstances, he had once set the world to fire with his prowess, pagans cowered and angels shivered in front of him. And now thi-this devil ran a _school_?! Minato sighed before he entered the conversation, 'I still require your help Bael, we need to identify the devils and see if we can grab one of those evil pieces they use to male humans into devils'

'Of course Messiah, I must request that you release me to set these fools straight, they must be taught the-' Bael's eager request to end the stain on his reputation was stopped just as quickly by the Messiah.

'No' Minato swiftly crushed any thought of letting Bael roam free.

Minato was finally drawn out of his mind as Sona snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Yes president?"

'The heir of Sitri, such a weak devil she is' Bael sneered, 'Much like her useless ancestors, serves them right for playing around with water instead of fire and destruction'

"As I was saying this is your class, please beware of the Perverted Trio" with a stiff nod the devil was gone before Minato could response, and he knew why.

He looked at Roland who had a sheepish expression, still jittery he had poured killing intent at the devil when she had raised her hand towards his face, "Let's go Roland" as he entered the class he was unaware of the devil that had barely made the corner and collapsed to the floor in fear.

Sona was shivering as she sat on the floor wondering what sort of creature that blonde was to release an aura like that, she wanted to call her sister but at the end her pride as a devil won out and she decided to confront him on her own, with her peerage of course, never had she felt such killing intent in her life, with a shuddering breath she gathered herself and picked herself off the floor.

Inside the classroom conversation quickly stopped as the two transfers stepped in, both took their places next to Honoka, the homeroom teacher of the class who was quick to introduce the two to the class, receiving fairly interested looks. Except for three certain perverts who cursed them as 'damned pretty boys' however when told to take a seat both took a seat near the 'leader' of the perverted trio, Issei Hyoudou.

Minato was stuck looking at Issei with a judging gaze, he switched Bael out for a Persona more useful to check and manipulate souls, with his ultimate persona the Messiah equipped none other than the Messiah though he did not manifest him choosing to just analyse the soul of one Issei Hyoudou.

He had already scouted the remaining class and suppressed the sigh of relief at finding them to be perfectly normal human beings.

"Oi pretty boy, what are you looking at?" Minato snapped out of his analysing gaze looking at Issei before nodding to him, "We'd need to talk during the break"

Issei scrunched up in concentration before his eyes widened, "Are you with the?"

Leaving the sentence open ended was rather smart of him, not mentioning Merlin as a wizard, Minato nodded, "During the break" They would ask Issei to let them train him as one of the guardians of hukanity.

Issei's former thoughts dropped his thoughts again going back to his near death experience as he nodded before his mind diverted again, "Why'd you have to be bishonen though?" he muttered remembering the wizard didn't look bad either, he looked up at the blonde horrified, "An entire group of them"

~o~o~o~o~o

Merlin knew the Messiah had told them he'd let them go to britain to check on his homeland soon, but he couldn't help himself as he cast one of his strongest long distance viewing spells on the former location of Camelot, the castle of his oldest friend and king- King Arthur Pendragon.

In the mirror he was using a large castle appeared, with rather strong- his eyes widened, it was his magic! His wards that protected the old castle, it was truly amazing that his magic had stood the test of time to such an extent, he delved deeper, looking through the walls, happy at the castle's preservation till he chanced upon a blonde man practicing swordwork his eyes flared with excitement as he recognised the the sword, Caliburn, the sword in the stone.

He smiled, satisfied with his scouting and firm in his belief that Britain would be safe with a Pendragon still alive, "Your blood still runs strong old friend"

Back to his main task Merlin cast a different spell this time, one meant to seek out demons- now modified using the signature of the young sitri he met the day before, with his staff he prepared to leave before pausing, "Oi! Samael wanna go demon hunting?"

Before merlin could even close his door the angel in question was next to him, wearing the traditional white armour or heaven though his had streaks of red in it, "Of course I do" He had an eager smile and though his preferred weapon lay with Michael he was a twelve winged angel.

Merlin honed on to a group of weak fainter signatures he had associated with the council of the sitri before grunting in annoyance as he saw as the signatures were in an another church, though this one was in a fairly public road and not damaged he nodded towards the door his eyes glowed an azure blue as he concentrate, "And warded with inept spells to" he cast two sets of cloaking and disguising spells, "Gotta walk to the devil I suppose, let's go Samael" his eyes narrowed, if there was a third peerage then the Messiah had to be informed.

Samael frowned, he would have loved to kill the devils indiscriminately, for in his view they had much to answer for but the Messiah had strictly ordered to not kill any devils unless necessary and avoid killing those that were resurrected, "Is it one of those unlucky devils?" He would slay devils without a hint of guilt but even he was hesitant in killing those who had no fault in becoming what they had become.

Merlin nodded as they took to the street, "We're not killing the devil, just going to capture him for research and see if I can make the evil piece leave the devil safely" Samael just grunted in discomfort, if the devil die they would violate the Messiah's orders.

Merlin turned his head and sighed, "I'm the archmage of Camelot Samael, few beings in history could claim to master magic better than I swear I won't fail to keep the devil alive"

Samael nodded, he had been imprisoned before Merlin had lived but he knew enough of the legend from his siblings to not doubt the intentions of the mage, "What did you need me for, it is as you say you are an archmage, we're not fighting a real demon either"

Merlin just shrugged, "Your father represents hope for many humans and his angels embody his light, I have hope that they'd have that same hope after getting over the terror of seeing the leader of their arch nemesis"

Samael was about to snort at the thought of a devil appreciating his light before deciding not no, if the Messiah could redeem one like him surely a devil was no problem.

So he and Merlin continued their path to a very notorious devil who was eagerly waiting for his next prey to fall.

So Archmage and Angel made their way to a confrontation that would only serve to adversely affect the intense hatred that boiled within Samael's heart for the demons.

 **~o~o~o~o~o**

Minato was followed by both Issei and Roland, Issei had tearfully been torn from the other two perverts as other than peeking he was half dragged to a secluded corner by Roland, whose instincts as a Paladin almost made him swat at the other two brats with his sword.

As they stopped Issei finally stopped whining as Minato looked at him, once more with the Messiah equipped, the human soul of Issei was linked by a white chain to a red orb, presumably his sacred gear, "Troubling" his mutter caused Roland and Issei's background conversation to halt. The chain was a beautiful work of art that resonated with him but it was resonating in a bad way, it was calling for help.

The chain was rusted, pure white had flecks of dull white and patches of grey, it was worrying because Hades words resounded in his mind, 'The system is falling apart' Sacred Gears were powerful instruments supposed to be humanity's defense against the supernatural. For them to be relegated to lottery was absurd, even catastrophic, to Humanity's continued health.

"Minato-san why'd you always start brooding? I skipped Oppai watching for this you know?"

Minato nodded absentmidedly, amazed at how perverted the boy was, if the system was fixed he had no doubt the boy would have been deemed unfit as one of the champions of humanity, "Roland will explain your situation to you" He delved into his mind, calling for a Perona attuned to souls and artifacts, it was true that his Messiah persona could probably fix the problem individually but this was a problem that needed to be fixed in its entirety, to make sure that the system would actually work properly they would need beings that were both experts in the usage of light and the manipulation of souls he opened his eyes, in front of him was the sea of souls, more specifically an office with fifteen beings that would change the world. And at the helm was no other than the Messiah himself.

Outside Roland just stood guard and came up with the best explanation he could, before Issei start ranting about Oppai again he struck first, "The supernatural are real boy"

Roland went on, "The supernatural are all real and as you saw they like killing the innocent"

Issei was a pervert, but he was not a heartless one, "That's not good!"

Roland shrugged, "Life often isn't boy but there was a god that loved humanity, loved them enough that he decided to _make_ life fair" Roland took in a deep breath.

He looked at Issei his blue eyes digging into him, "You were attacked for a reason boy"

Issei just stared at him, "I mean yeah, mister wizard told-"

Roland still looked grave, "I knew many great men who were champions of humanity, the greatest of them often ended up giving everything up for their race. For them, for us, nothing is more impprtant than the safety of Humanity"

He pointed at Issei, "Those gifts I mentioned" Issei nodded, "Within you lies one of them, and the potential to become another guardian of earth, the devils will tempt you and the fallen will assault you other pantheons will dislike those you champion the cause of Humanity but the moment you were chosen by God you were entrusted with a duty, one that is yours till death Issei Hyoudou, so do you accept?"

Issei had only one thought on his mind, that he could be a hero and heroes got harems, "I'll get a harem then?"

Roland just stared at him, then at the Messiah that was still standing like a block, probably conversing with some Persona and then turned back to Issei, lust like this was often what once combined with power corrupted the greatest of beings, Azazel was once pure and now he was a fallen who was the evilest of them all, In his mind the boy was unworthy, not qualified to be given such power. How could this be the current generation of heroes? Once there were heroes like Perseus, Achilles, St. George, Arthur, Lancelot and the first Messiah himself, and now this?

Issei slumped at seeing Roland's expressions cycle through disgust, horror and nostalgia, "So I don't get a harem?"

Roland snorted, "At this rate a restraining order is what you'll get boy, you are no Arthur or George but you're apparently the best I've got at the moment" he slapped Issei on his back, "I'll have you straight and proper soon enough" he'd give him a shot. For the sake of his old comrades and the Messiah he will give this pervert boy the chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest heroes.

Issei looked at him horrified, "What?"

Roland smiled a practised, "Rule number one, Heroes don't indulge in pervert acts"

Issei's eyes had tears pooling in them, "But that's not fair! Heroes always get what they-"

Roland would later admit he snapped, he got so angry, here he was giving this schoolboy a chance that many of his comrades didn't, here he was offering him to stand amonst the most revered people in _human history_ , and the only thing he thought of was a _**harem?**_ Was that all the current generation took from their stories of suffering? Was that the value of his life's work in this boy's life?

"You think being a hero is easy? Heroes don't live for themselves, they're those who dare to stand up when others cower! They fight when the weak despair! They care not for rewards nor fame or gifts but for each night another one sleeps easy due to them! We give everything up to protect those that can't protect themselves, Being a hero is the worst thing for you, but we do it because it is not us that we worry for, it is the countless innocents that count upon you that we care for, knowing that" He looked into Issei's eyes, one last chance, "Do you want to be a hero?"

Issei was rooted in his spot Roland's words going through his head worry rising, all he wanted was a harem, who knew being a hero was not actually about getting the girl and winning the day? He struggled to find a reply before slumping, he just wanted to be a harem king, it was his dream and he would never abandon his dream, "I-I don't wanna be a hero" Before he could turn and run his shoulder was tightly held by Roland, "Stop Issei" He sighed his anger had washed away, this was a boy raised in peace, what would he know of their struggle? He should be thankful for this. Children that knew no war, "Listen before you leave"

Issei stared at him, "You won't force me to become a hero?"

Roland snorted, "Heroes aren't made like that, Issei, don't put yourself down if you don't want to be a hero, it is a harsh job. One I myself find difficult. But I request that you not reveal anything we have talked about, okay?" he threw a small marble at him, "And carry that at all times, we'll protect you and your family"

Isse just nodded, he just wanted to go now the teasing of his friends was becoming all to obvious once he returned about how they had fun, "I promise Roland-san I'll make sure to not tell anyone about you or Minato-san"

 **~o~o~o~o~o**

Minato sat in his assigned chair, he had talked and talked with his persona but all was clear, "So as long as he doesn't act we can't fix the system"

Thanatos looked helplessly at his master whilst Hades replied steadily, "We can still probably rig the system to be better, maybe make a choice on some parametre, it'll work for mayhaps a year before going back to it's damaged state, how he made this behemoth of a structure I can not believe how complex this system is forever feeding of his followers and angels faith to continuously cycle and yet come back on death, the meritocratic feature seems to have been disabled after the population crossed five hundred million from my other self's memories"

It was here Prometheus interrupted, "It is clear the big dude wasn't able to program it to its fullest extent but still we should be able to rig it for an year as Hades said, a generation of heroes would be a boon for humanity, in its current state a demented serial killer is as likely to get get a sacred gear as the holiest of saints"

Odin shook his head, "A temporary fix is undesirable, we need to either fix it or stop it make sure it doesn't dispatch gears to the enemy, perhaps we should gather our own faction of heroes and grant them gears?"

Solomon's eyes lit up, "A faction of heroes would be the most effective indeed, especially with the golden generation of heroes guiding them it would be hard for them to go wrong"

Minato just looked at them, they had been unable to come up with a permanent solution beyond rigging the sacred gear system for an year or somehow stopping it and opening a hero academy and granting sacred gears there, whilst the idea had merit he had no wish to open a hero academy or a faction so early when there was so much he had yet to know anything, "He'd probably have to converse with real Hades at length again to catch up on what happened, "It is a meritable ideas, I' will see if I can find some young heroes to mentor at a later date"

After some time of more chatting they finally dispersed and he found himself blinking blearily as he saw the back of his blonde guard but not the brown haired boy they had been here to recruit, "Roland, where's Issei?"

Roland just shrugged, "It seems it was not in his fate to be a hero" He turned to face Minato, "Any news on how to fix this mess the system have become"

Minato just looked down and shook his head before equipping Thanatos this time, not letting him manafest though, and going onwards and re entering the school, followed closely by a disappointed Roland who had hoped the Messiah could fix the system.

Later he would talk about Issei with Roland and they would agree, there are standards a hero must meet and lust was certainly not one of them.

The subject of their thoughts was about to enter his class, having removed the previous conversation almost entirely.

Before Issei could enter the classroom he was stopped by someone pulling his sleeve, he looked around before looking slightly lower and spotting a silver haired girl known more commonly as the school mascot than her name, Koneko Toujou, his pervert sense was already tingling before his sleeve was tugged again, "Yes Koneko-chan?"

Koneko just looked at him blankly, "Pervert senpai has been called by Kaicho"

Issei's head went to lala land as he nodded in approval imagining on of the two great sisters of the school wanted from him, ignoring the fact he was being dragged and how the charm he was given slightly bothersome marble in his pocket, he ignored the marble, he ignored the call of human magic and forward he went following a devil's tale.

Devils were creatures of desires, whilst heroes were embodiement of virtues. Perhaps it truly was not in his fate to be a hero but the question remained-would a resurgent heaven let the devils keep the longinus sacred gear?

 **~o~o~o~o~o**

Merlin was many things, calling him the most powerful human was probably an understatement, at this moment however he was confused they had entered the church only to find a fully functioning church right on the edge of Tokyo, and thus in Youkai territory (not that he knew that) rather than Devil territory, the weird thing was how it was staffed by sixteen devils, all reincarnated and one that was significantly more powerful than her comrades.

As he sat on a pier he was heavily confused, so was Samael, why were a group of sisters posing as devils? Merlin figured it probably had something to do with the devil sitting in a separate room.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" It was the leading devil, she smiled and yet Merlin saw the fakeness from a mile away he smiled back.

Behind his smile he charged a powerful mind reading spell, "Say sister, is there a priest around, my friend and I are here for a confession"

Worry flashed in her for a minute before she shook her head, "I'm afraid our priest is rather busy and unavailable for a confession right now" She nodded towards the cross ignoring her headache putting it to being a devil in enemy territory, "You may pray at your discretion"

Merlin was already sorting through her memories, at first he had intended to do a cursory light search, that thought had ran away from the moment he had encountered the most recent night she had with the devil in the other chamber he had cast a linking spell, letting Samel see what he was seeing.

The more they saw the more it horrified him, putrid rage begun to bellow but seeing her fate, and her suffering sorrow came quicker and deeper, "I'm sorry sister" Samael was silently sitting next to him, it was akin to a volcano about to erupt.

The nun looked confused before shaking her head, "I should be the one sorry, I'll see to it our priest is here next time sir"

Merlin shook his head as he closed his eyes, rage boiled as even he almost broke his calm, "What ought a good man feel?" He opened his eyes, they blazed blue much like the barrier that had surrounded the church to make no outsider suspicious, "But sorrow at your undeserved fate?" The Nun's eyes widened, at his blue eyes and his companions shaking shoulders, yet Samael restrained himself, if he killed such poor souls even by accident whilst they were devils they would never be granted the relief of heaven, so he shuddered as he controlled his rage.

Merlin's eyes darted towards two of the pawns, the nuns were gathering in the center of the church, with one of them going to call the monster, but two pawns- they looked no older than seventeen, girls really- stood still, still not broken they had hope that these two men could do the unthinkable, "Take cover behind me, I swear it on my magic no more harm shall come to you so long as my magic runs strong on this earth!" any sign of hesitation vanished as both of them almost ran behind him.

The devil- the one in the other chamber- came out, finally choosing to intervene as the situation escalated, for the last the church continued making rescue attempts, the outer circle might hate the now devils but the rage the cardinals felt, especially after his last target infuriated them so much they had send Dulio himself after him, he would arrive soon, though not many knew about his mission.

"Leave now wizard" It was new voice, but by now it was almost familiar, he looked lecherously at the two ladies that took shelter behind the Archmage of Camelot, "And tell those pesky clergymen of yours these nuns are mine! You can't free them because they're devils now" He grinned lecherously, "And mine to do with as I wish"

"And what if you die?" Merlin's voice was cold, his magic prepared, the two nuns behind him were already guarded by two light blue shields.

The monster sneered, "Then the factions war again because unlike you I'm a clan heir!"

Merlin clicked his tongue, horrible death was no longer an option it seemed, "In the memory of my old friend, I give you this one chance to surrender yourself to me and be administered justice peacefully and painlessly" Eh he'd make it work, if the devils demanded justice after he showed them proof of such abuse then neither the Messiah nor he would care anyways.

Two magic circles with the crest of Camelot appeared next to him, unrecognised for Diodora was not old enough to know of it, "Or die most painfully cretin" venom dripped from his words as magic gathered and his capturing spells, his chain was ready and his bluff was charging.

"Why do you care wizard? These nuns are nothing but sacks of flesh anyways, would you not leave? They are my property after all" Diodora nodded at him, "How about I stop chasing the Holy Maiden and you-"

Samael had enough, he had enough of this smug madness, his father would have acted to end this injustice no matter the concequences. This was injustice, and injustice was not tolerated by those of heaven, " **Who do you think you are devil**?"

Both Merlin and Diodora looked at him, Diodora gulped, only the strong used their power so wastefully to project, because they had it in spades to spare, "I am Diodora Astaroth! clan heir of the house of Astaroth, please I implore upon you let us not start that whole mess of a war again"

" **The likes of Belial fled when I gave battle, just who do you think you are?** " Samael was enraged, no he was beyond rage he was furious, the spell containing his form shattered, he unfurled his wings, " **Like father used to say, better war than to let the unjust rule!** " the nuns on Diodora's side were shocked by the presence of an angel, their instincts as devils made them want to puke or run in terror, but the faithful in them, the nuns who were so battered and bruised that they had been suppressed by this emotionless state, a dam broke free even in the queen the oldest of them as most slumped to the floor crying, at the end of their nightmare, the hope or just exuberation.

Diodora? he just shivered as the rage of the most holy kind directed at him before trying to backup only to be pushed forward by his own queen, "You trai-"

The rest of his words were left unheard as he was slammed into a wall by Samael who had his throat in a chokehold, " **Focus on your impending destruction boy** " Diodora paled he knew that ball of energy floating close to his face it felt to similar to the power of destruction held by the clan of Bael, before he yelped as he was suddenly thrown into another wall, " **Had you not been needed alive I would have killed you on sight cretin** "

Merlin's chain rose and stabbed the Astaroth through his stomach, and it was even more painful than a sword as it was a blunt object that pierced him, "I hardly need him not in pain" Merlin smiled, he prepared another spell, one of the most terrible mind ripping spells he had known, "Hadn't you been taught the golden rule as a boy?"

Blue lights ripped into the Astaroth clan heirs head as he screamed in pain, his mind being decimated by the magic of Merlin, "Do as you wish for others to do to you"

For fifteen minutes the nuns gathered themselves from the floor and saw Diodora writhe in agony his voice gone from pain-filled screams, before they suddenly stopped and merlin's eyes stopped glowing blue, Diodora Astaroth lay on the ground more dead than alive, before a ball of light touched his corpse and like dissolving it into nothingness.

The peerage of the Astaroth had done nothing to help him, their queen pushed him to the enemy and s the betrayal clause activated, letting the power course into their bodies giving them a boost and mutating the peerage, such was the fate of a rebellious peerage.

Or that would have happened if Merlin had not locked away the evil piece from the peerage, a blue bracelet appearing on all of their hands, "I'm afraid other than offering you all refuge I can't do much else, once we contact the vatican we could have some place set up for you"

Merlin was cut of by one of the two pawns, "We are devils no Lord Wizard, Lord Angel, death is the best that we can request from you, it is already very kind of you to rescue us, even though we are-"

" **I know devils** " Samael interrupted her, " **And you are not one, it is the will of father that you be helped and as the champions of his will we shall help you,** **My father would have helped you, and he had always told us people are made by experiences not flesh** " He looked at Merlin in consternation before coming up with a suitable name, " **Marius open a gate to our safehouse** "

Merlin nodded and waved his arm opening a gate, "Please settle in, I'll see to you as soon as me and Angel boy have some words"

The nuns wanted to say no, such kindness was beyond them- they who could not even take his name without flinching, before they looked at the angel looked at them pleadingly and went in without protest.

"Did they go to our base here Merlin?" Samael was worried about them but dealing with the emotional ones was always done better by Gabriel.

"They went to a castle in France, one of my places when I used to be alive, I used to practice alchemy there. I reactivated the wards they'll be fine, I'll make sure of that, besides they'll be human in no time" he ended the last part with a smile.

Samael looked at him curiosity in his eyes, "Oh?"

Merlin shrugged, "let's just say I've got a fairly well established understanding of the evil piece system"

Samael gave an impressed gaze, "It took the devils centuries to make this system and you did so in minutes?"

Merlin gave a smug smile this time, "They were banging rocks to create fire whilst I created Caliburn, Clarent and was integral in creating Excalibur, all swords that could rip gods a new one easily"

Samael nodded before looking at the spot where Diodora lied before dying, "Will the Messiah be angry?"

"He is never angry, though once I show him what we saw he'd probably agree with us regardless" Merlin opened another gate, "I wonder if the devils the Messiah is with are similar"

Samael's eyes flared, "If they are then their race is better dead than alive"

Merlin sighed, "Peace Samael, perhaps they are not too bad as a race" as he stepped in the portal.

Samael sighed, reigning in his hate for the devils was often hard. It had been millenia from the war only for Azrael for him he remembered his curse, the stabs he felt as any of his siblings fell to the demons, how he raged despite his curse. He remembered them all, and such a grudge, though he had attempted to bury the hatchet, even an angel could not let go off.

 **~o~o~o~o~o**

 **What Merlin said about the devils was not literally true of course**

 **So we end here with quite a bit of action and Diodora taken care of, I' was going to make this a ripples chapter but I guess my fingers went another way sorry for that, Thanks to all the reviews and favs and follows, I've found the support is mindblowing thanks again. All reviews are appreciated and all that I can answer through pm are answered.**

 **Betaed by : Noone I just revised it**


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This story in no way refers to real life religions other than dxd terms or taking inspiration, hope that is clear.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Issei was led into the devil's den and he knew no better, he was enthralled by the sound of the shower his vivid imagination finally snapping to attention when the only other boy in the club spoke to him, "I hope you have a good time with us Issei-san"

Issei's eyebrows rose, "What? I'm not a part of your club Yuuto"

"We were hoping we could change that Issei-san" Out of the shower stepped Rias Gremory, a towel wrapped around her, had Minato been here warning bells would have rung in his eyes the moment a Gremory was nearly naked in front of him, Issei was no Minato, he wasn't even cautious as the marble in his pocket glowed gently, "Oppai"

Rias's raised an eyebrow while Koneko just looked at him blankly, "Senpai is a pervert"

Before Issei could have replied Rias gestured to a seat, "Take a seat Issei-kun, I'll be with you shortly"

As she went back Issei sat comfortably next to Kiba, staying away from the hostile Koneko, it was at this time Akeno made her own entry, carrying a teapot, "Would you like some tea, Issei-kun?"

Issei nodded, "H-Hai!"

Akeno giggled as she served tea to Issei, "Ara ara, looks like someone was teased by Buchou" She pouted at the red Issei who accepted the tea drinking it calmly, "How did your date go Issei-Kun?"

It was an innocent question, had he been paying attention even Issei would have deflected the question, "Terrible" Issei almost gasped, he wasn't supposed to say that.

Akeno's eyes went up, "Ara ara, why is that Issei-kun?"

Issei hesitated before Rias finally entered the conversation, how long was she listening to them? "We usually do not care about the affairs of the students but you had gone on a date with a fallen angel and she tried to kill you"

Issei gasped, "How did you know!?"

Rias smiled gently at him, "You just told us Issei" She nodded at him encouragingly, "there is no need to keep a secret from us Issei-kun we only want to protect you from those who seek to harm you and your family"

Issei bit his lips, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone"

Rias smiled gently before sighing, "How about we tell you a big secret first?"

Issei nodded, "Maybe" he still wasn't sure, both the wizard and the blonde had told him to not reveal them to anyone.

Rias suddenly grew two bat like wings and grinned at Issei, "We're devils Issei-kun"

Issei panicked, instantly, "B-But yo-o my soul?"

Rias chortled, "We don't take souls anymore Issei, now we take mundane things like money in payment"

Issei struggled to compose himself before Rias begun again, "I'm making you an important offer Issei-kun"

Issei nodded hesitantly, "That is?"

"I'll recruit you into my peerage, meaning you'll become near immortal, stronger and be able to understand almost any language" Rias tapped his head, "In return you agree to become my servant"

Issei started thinking, his mind quickly going to Roland's earlier war-, "You can also get a harem"

Issei panicked, he hesitated, he salvated, before he nodded, "I accept, I Issei Hyoudou swear to be the servant of Rias Gremory!"

Rias smiled, whilst Kiba sweatdropped, and took out eight pawn pieces, with a gesture she pointed towards a spell that had appeared, "Lay there please Issei-kun"

Issei lied there, he smiled, finally he could achieve his dream and still get the power to be a hero, he'd prove Roland-san wrong! "Hai buchou!"

He lay there as the eight pieces were inserted into him one by one, with Rias smiling more happily as each piece got 'consumed', "Wow Issei-kun must be strong to have so many pieces required to make him a devil"

Issei smiled proudly at the compliment, "Thanks Kaicho"

After a small talk and with fliers handed out to him, Rias gave it one last try, "Issei-kun now that we're family surely you'll be able to tell me your secret?"

Issei still hesitated before changing his tale around, he told Rias it was Roland that saved him with Minato's help, fending of the fallen. Merlin's charm had activated and protected him, no such charm was used by Roland who had trusted the boy, before he ended by telling her he had refused to be a hero if he had to give up his dream.

Rias was shocked, she did not let it show but she was also excited, this Roland could be another possible peerage member if he beat a fallen as human.

"Akeno-chan" Rias muttered as Issei left to distribute fliers.

"Yes buchou?" Akeno was licking her lips, at the thought of the blonde join them.

Rias nodded towards the files of both the transfer students, "We need to arrange a meeting with these two"

~o~o~o~o~o

Merlin was just back from dealing with the nuns, he had studied the pawn piece carefully, poking and prodding, making sure the energy never escaped.

Seeing the relief in the eyes of the nuns after he had revealed to them the experiments were to turn them human was palpable, it reminded him again what he and Arthur had fought for, to see the same relief in the eyes of all of Albion.

The Evil Piece was certainly a nasty artifact, it took its inherent demonic energy and released it into the human's system instantly overpowering their inherent human resistance using its magic turning them into devils, but strong ones required an extra kick from the king piece, which is why the devils couldn't recruit those more powerful than them.

So he had gone ahead and popped into the washroom of Kuoh academy, secretly met the Messiah and asked for him to summon Oberon.

Combined Oberon and he had crafted a new artifact, he wanted to claim he did majority of the work but they merely reverse engineered the 'blueprint' of the evil piece and altered it to work for them, truly the lion's share of the work had been done by the devils, he snickered, what irony the devils had given him the way to end their peerages.

The Fae God-king and he had created a new Antiochian Piece, a truly random name as Neutral Piece was nearly not at good, the Antiochian Piece acted opposite to the evil piece and sponged back all the demonic power before kicking the evil piece out and taking itself out, it was simple, it was clean and it was a foolproof cure, they also planned on adding a consent system but for now this would do excellently.

Then again making Excalibur, Caliburn or even setting up the wards on the Castle of Camelot took far longer and was a more arduous task, and so Oberon returned to the Messiah and he fell asleep after touching the bed as he remembered it was nearly one and a half days of constant work.

Downstairs Minato and Roland were sitting around the table having dinner, both were being hounded by the devils for something but they had avoided the devils for now.

Azrael had meanwhilst met the nuns and reassured them that the Vatican was not interested in killing them, and now went there daily, Samael claimed it was good for his sister to talk with someone relatively normal after millenia, and for at least a couple of days life continued to be normal.

As morning dawned, Merlin was fresh and ready to see his magic cure work magic, he stepped into his gate followed quickly by Azrael, Samael, Minato and Helel.

The leading nun, the former queen, who was identified as Maria Fernandes was quick to greet them bowing in greeting, "Lord Marius, Lords and Lady Angel"

Minato nodded and took his seat before looking around Merlin had told him he had activated several old houses. He sweatdropped as he looked at the positively large castle, he never mentioned a huge French castle, "We should make haste, I have school soon"

Azrael nodded in agreement whilst Samael stood next to the Messiah faithfully, unlike the rest who were in casuals Samael had come in armour, standing guard around Minato, though it was hardly needed with Metatron equipped.

Merlin nodded to the nuns who had gathered in the courtyard as well, "All you need to is hold the Antiochian piece next to your heart and it'll cleanse you of the influence of demo-" Before Merlin could even finish the nuns had done so, some even before he spoke half of his sentence, the pieces glowed forming a cylinder of royal blue magic around them before they vanished with a pop and two pieces fell out of the nuns, one with black line and the other with bluish-white lines going through them, with the nuns hugging each other tearfully at the surreal moment, Merlin smiled warmly, even Minato smiled slightly at the scene of pure exhilaration in front of them.

"You're a genius Marius" Helel was the first one to comment on the feat that defied nature itself.

Azrael was beaming at him whilst Samael laughed cheerfully, "This! This is what even we angels call a miracle!"

Merlin smiled brightly, "It took those bats three centuries to make this and three days for me to reverse this"

Minato flicked his forehead with a role of his eyes, "They are not prodigies of a billion years"

At the end of the day Minato ended up celebrating with the nuns and the angels, letting the celebrations only cut short when he had to go back to sleep, it was finally decided that the 16 Nuns had chosen to live in that castle till he contacted the Vatican, which now there was a need for as he needed to make the world aware of a cure if one no longer wished to be a devil after being reincarnated.

 _~o~o~o~o~o~_

It was on the fifth day of his school the Messiah finally realised the harsh truth, the new devil in their class was no other than Issei Hyoudou, who had spilled the beans about him.

Now he stood next to Merlin, Roland, Solomon, Zeus, Odin, Helel and Thanatos in the sea of souls,

Roland was furious, at how the devil dishonoured the vow of silence, "That boy did the worst thing any aspiring hero could do, break his word"

Zeus snorted, "What hero? My sons have sacrificed so much and committed herculean tasks to be truly called heroes, you died for your king and country, Arthur died for his people, Beowulf sacrificed his ties to the world to protect it from countless beasts"

Helel continued Zeus's thought, "Indeed, heroes are defined by their deeds and so are fools"

Solomon looked down in sadness, "It is potential lost, he could have been a hero that would be an ideal of humanity, alas his path is his own to chose that is the gift and curse given to all of life"

Merlin leaned forward, "He does not deserve his sacred gear, certainly not one this strong" They had only come to know what gear he had when Bahamut, one of the strongest dragons roared Ddraig in rage as the smell got strong once Issei got strong enough.

Minato looked displeased with what he said, but he had to, "He'll die without it"

Solomon just shrugged, "We may not be able to fix the system but we should be able to switch gears, swap the Longius gear for a weaker gear, like a twice critical"

Voices rung out, agreeing with the wisest man to ever live.

"Very well it is decided, when the opportunity is present I shall sanction Issei Hyoudou, the time is crucial for us to find a new host.

Merlin was the one to speak now, "If you'll let me go messiah I have an excellent place to draw candidates from, I'd need the help from Arthur though"

Solomon raised his eyes, "One of the Pendragon descendents?"

"Who is better to provide the first hero of this generation but the heirs of one of the noblest heroes to exist" Merlin grinned at Minato who nodded as they left he Sea of Souls.

And so life continued again with the Messiah looking for opportune moments to remove the artifact from Issei.

Merlin had said he still wished to keep an eye on the devils, though these ones seemed docile no one truly knew their real natures, especially after the event that occured yesterday.

Yesterday Issei had met the nun Asia Argento, though she was reserved about him she had chosen not to get to involved with him as the stone she had heated up, which she took as a warning, but the boy was still wooed by her kindness and in a short time proclaimed her his friend.

Under the watchful eye of Merlin they played in the swings and talked before Asia was kidnapped. By her own faction, so Merlin had let it play out and here they were, Issei running to both Minato and Roland after Rias had said it was enemy territory.

The nun was strung up on a cross, unfortunately for the Fallen the nun was perfectly fine as Merlin's subtle protection warded her from harm, not that it stopped Freed from trying but it certainly stopped him from succeeding.

"Roland-san! I need your help!" Issei was panting as he came to a stop in front of Roland who was looking at him unamusedly, he understood what had happened but he had not forgotten the betrayal of their trust, trust once lost was never easily regained.

He sighed, "What do you want Issei-san?"

"My friend was captured by fallen angels! I need your help to rescue her, please Roland-san I'll do anything just-" he was cut short as Roland laughed in his face.

"Come on boy, do anything? I've heard that so many times, I swear" He made a shooing motion, "Go away I'll do what I have to"

Issei looked crestfallen yet hopeful, but go away he did, "That was harsh Roland"

Roland looked at the Messiah in confusion, "But he is a-"

The Messiah looked at him sharply, "Not all of them are bad we all saw the memories of Astaroth- they have laws and clearly he was in violation of all of them"

Roland sighed, "I apologise, I presume we'll intervene my lord?"

"Of course we will this will be an ideal chance to get that sacred gear" Minato almost wanted to let the gear be with Issei, but he didn't.

That was because the gear was not meant for him, or his kind. Nothing personal, It was just him making sure humanity had it's guardians other than him and his Personas.

He left for home early that day, so did Roland.

Come evening he had Helel equipped, Merlin was on watch duty whilst Roland was wearing his Paladin, what was interesting Minato himself was dressed in the same armour as Samael, with a nasty looking blade by his side, though usually said blade radiated corruption today it radiated a purer glow, it was Lucifer's blade, but before it became Lucifer's blade it was Helel's blade. For now it remained in its sheath.

"Good luck Messiah" Merlin opened a gate and the next thing Minato saw was the church, with a quickly fading blue field around it blocking anything but the supernatural from entering, by the time they were at the door the field was completely invisible.

Roland looked at the Messiah, only his eyes visible from helm, "By your leave my lord?"

Messiah nodded, "Go ahead"

Roland walked up to the gate and knocked on it three times, "Password" was the hiss he got.

"Excommunication is from the church you may still speak like a man, open up and give up to avoid pointless deaths" Roland bluntly states.

The passage clicked and the door locked firmly, "Nope"

Roland took a look at unimpressive door, it was made out of wood with some basic enchantments on it, he raised his foot, "Yep" with a resounding boom the door flew and a clang was heard as it crashed with the inner doors which were made of metal.

Groans were heard as fifteen men lay groaning on the ground right behind the door, Roland walked in, bashing any awake man into unconsciousness, followed by the Messiah who swiftly dispatched any enemy into unconscious bliss as he moved towards the inner sanctum with purpose only to stop as to let Helel briefly take over and slice a bullet cleanly in two.

He looked at the man that had fired the bullet, "Give up, resistance is futile"

Freed looked at him as he looked back, "Right after you!" He smirked bringing his lightsaber to clash with Helel's blade.

What happened next was what was expected, Helel's blade could go head to head with Grungir and Mjolner without duress, it could withstand Caliburn and even the spears of that crazy Celt.

Now it crashed with a standard issue lightsword of an exorcist, nothing special about it, perhaps somewhat stronger than a regular one. It served as well as any exorcist sword, it was sliced in half the other half's light only sputtering out a second after it was disconnected and Freed was stabbed in his stomach, before being knocked unconscious.

"I…. Call… Chea-" before he could complete the exorcist was completely down.

And Minato continued downwards, towards the final set of doors, they had two locked iron doors and four fallen angels.

He let Helel take over as further inhuman strength flooded through him, he kicked the doors open.

Raynare smiled smugly, "Who dares enter during the ritual?"

"Well I'm not a devil, certainly not one of your lackeys how about you take a guess" Snark was clear in Helel's voice.

Raynare sneered, "Humans should know how to talk to their betters"

Helel looked at the nun, before turning his annoyed gaze at Raynare, "Tell me did you fall because you looked into a mirror?"

Raynare growled in anger before letting loose a volley of light spears at the angel.

Helel let them all through as they sunk into his body uselessly, "Come now, let's not kid ourselves"

As if on cue more light spears impacted his body and dispersed, "Disappointing that you refuse to follow simple orders"

He caught the next light spear before activating his projection ability, "Will you stop should I reveal who I am?"

They stopped briefly as his armour started glowing, Dohanseek's jaw was left open the former librarian remembered the armour very well from heaven's books, an armour abandoned after the Angelic split and the beginning of the first war in Heavens, Helel's war in heaven.

 **"I am the Prince of Silver**

His sword was glowing slowly being restored to its one handed longsword form, with an ivory hilt.

 **The Lord of the Sixth Heaven**

His twelve wings unfurled, spreading terror to the hearts of the fallen, they should have known messing around with souls always dragged the attention of heaven to them.

 **The First to fall, the First to Repent**

A glint of mischief entered the eyes to the Prince of heaven.

 **A guardian against the endless night**

A kind smile and welcoming eyes, much like they were before bitterness had gripped his heart and made it black with the taint of corruption.

 **I am Helel, the Morning Star of Heaven"**

His wings fully spread as his light flood the chambers, crushing the opposition underneath the weight of his power, the power that had been able to fight god in open battle once, " **Tell me my fallen kin, who stands in front of I?** "

The Fallen had, no pun intended, fallen and now faced with such a question they caved within seconds eager to avoid the wrath of this angel.

The Man went first, "I am Dohanseek my lord" Helel looked deeply confused, " **How did a librarian fall in the first place? Terribly boring job I'd imagine** "

Dohanseek gulped, "I shared forbidden information my lord"

Helel nodded before looking at the rest of the fallen with a raised eyebrow, before he gazed at Asia embarrassed, " **Apologies young one, it had missed my mind** " with a swipe of his hand Asia was released to him and then to the bench, " **please wait outside with Roland as there is much I need to do** "

Asia nodded, absentmindedly mumbling yes my lord amazed at the seraph that stood in front of her, that is why he told her redemption is possible, because he himself was the redeemed son of god?

" **Now then, answer me** -" Helel looked imploringly at them.

"Prove it first! That you are he and not an imposter!" Raynare screeched

Dohanseek's eyes widened, "Do you want us dead women?!"

Helel's eyes glowed as on the palm of this hand a small ball of molten metal rested, it glowed and moved and slithered, he looked at them, " **The Power of creation, a power bestowed upon none but I, his favoured son!** "

Kawalner and Mittlett, stuttered but managed to give their names out and the reason for their fall: Lust, one from battle the other from… other perverse and sadistic acts.

"I am Raynare, I would have been your equal had you let me have the sacred-"

" **Then you are a fool Raynare** " his voice was blithing, " **They are meant for mortal souls and any immortal soul that willingly transfers them become as mortal as a human** " Helel snorted at the looks of the fallen.

With a wave of his hands four giant pillars of light appeared, " **As for your fate** " the pillars crashed onto the four, lessening them to a mortal, with a mark on their skin above the heart, " **Live well and live good if you want redemption, live wrong** " He turned chains linking the four, " **And death awaits you after a century** "

As he took his exit he gathered up the exorcists he had knocked out as well with the last of them being collected where he met Roland who was talking to Asia with a bright smile on his face, Minato had regained control switching over to his Messiah persona, time to wait and face the music.

"My lord! cheerful news from, not only have I gained a lot of exorcists for our 'Hero reformation school' we've also got Asia who agreed to be a hero!"

He sighed, "As wonderful it is Roland, these exorcists are to leave for the Vatican not the Scottish highlands"

Roland pouted but perhaps it was to the merit of the paladin that the exorcists were all happy about going to the dangerous place that wanted them dead than be trained by the crazy sword wielder.

Minato and Roland sent of Asia to Azrael whilst they quickly rearranged the prisoners and the fallen in two lines, "All of you will behave" Roland said his hand on the pommel of his sword, getting enthusiastic yells from the prisoners" All were enthusiastic. And fake.

"Issei slow-" Issei stormed in, he as expecting resistance but he was shocked to see Minato and Roland.

Swiftly manipulating the chain seeing it whiten and clear up on his energy's touch he willed the gear to switch and despite resistance switch it did.

It was now Rias entered with narrowed eyes as Akeno followed them..

"Ara Ara Minato-kun, looks like you're caught red-handed"

"What are you doing in my territory?"

"I beg your pardon?" Minato replied, "Your territory?" His eyes glinted it, "I think it is time we have a talk Germory-san"


	5. Chspter 4

**And Discord is up if you wanna come ask me questions the link is on my profile**!

 **So lots of backlash from last chapter, as I said in my own review to the story I won't make this a devil bashing story by all means I am open to being persuaded about giving the sacred gear back till it's new host comes into the story, as last chapter dropped Minato is aware the devils have laws and pretty clearly tells Roland he felt not all of them would be bad.**

 **Also the Balance breaker of the twice critical is still a multiple of 4, so Issei is hardly weak.**

 _~o~o~o~o~o~_

They were in the student council's office, with the two peerages in front of them and Merlin, Roland and Minato on the opposite side, calm drinking tea.

Rias prodded him again, "So Minato-san, how about you let me know what were you doing in that church?"

Minato nodded, "I was praying" Merlin almost snorted at the blank reply whilst Roland's helm hid his grin.

Sona sighed, "Please Minato-san if we resolve this here we won't need to call in the authorities" She gave him an imploring look, "How about we both be honest with each other?"

Minato thought about it for a moment before nodding again, "How about this, Marius casts a truth field, none of us can lie but we can choose not to speak?"

Rias and Sona both hesitated, there were things better kept secrets but Minato had given them no reason to distrust them and he had saved innocent lives as well, it was Rias that nodded first followed by a more hesitant Sona.

Merlin cast another one of his spell, and doesn't he have one for everything, the room was enveloped by a magic circle and within seconds a blue field had appeared, "All set they can't lie now, not even I can lie now"

Minato took out a folder Merlin had prepared, Diodora Astaroth, he was also a member of the chaos brigade but that was not there in the files, in there was evidence of what the monster did and who killed him, well technically Merlin and Samael but Merlin was a part of him, thus he killed him indirectly.

They waited, the face of the devils grew more and more horrified as they continued through the file, anger was the most prominent feature followed by pure horror at what one of them had done, not just one of them but apparently one of the up and coming devils, one she herself had admired looked and behaved nice, someone they had trusted by merit of blood and acquaintance.

Roland had seen these looks, ignorant youth looking at horrors beyond their age, yet this was the first time he saw it on a devil, and he was relieved that some moral fibre was there to work upon, "So you did not know of his crimes then"

"Of course not! Thi-This where is that bastard!?" The shriek came, unsurprisingly, from Rias.

Marius raised his eyebrow, "And what would his punishment be, execution surely?"

Sona gulped, they would not like it, but they probably knew anyways, "He would be imprisoned for a long time and his peerage withdrawn from him and given a foster home"

Minato sighed, still trying to hide what they had found in Astaroth's head seemed to be the devils tactic, "How long?"

Rias paled a little at the narrowed eyes of the blue haired boy, before giving a simple reply, "10 years since he was a pureblood"

"He gets to go to jail for 10 years whilst the girls are robbed of their humanity, their lives and any semblance of a normal life" Roland said all of that calmly, but the cup in his hands had already gave way to the Paladin's forceful grip, "10. Goddamn. Years!" He yelled in fury, both the peerages were suddenly on alert but relaxed as the Paladin relaxed in his seat, "Well it's good we killed him, scum like that had such a fate coming for him"

Sona's eyes widened "You killed him?"

Merlin shrugged, "Had to" he pointed at the files, "Got to get the evidence from somewhere, besides who knows if mind-ripping can be healed or not but in the human world we have execution laws exactly for these rarest of the rarest cases"

Rias bit her lip, "This'll cause tensions between the factions, peace is rather important you know?"

Merlin shook his head, "Better war than an unjust rule" It was what Arthur stood for, it was what he stood for.

Rias sighed, "Listen, I'll talk to my brother and the Grigori leader Azazel" Inside Minato Helel grew more interested after hearing his name, "And we'll sort this out without a war okay?'

Minato smiled, that was sensible, it was fair, there was no need for populations to die by his hand if unnecessary- he didn't like killing others, not if he could help it the forty three exorcists and four fallen could attest to that, "That will be very nice of you Gremory-San, Sitri-San"

Both of them nodded, relief clear as war was avoided narrowly, both had seen what one knight of his could do, take out an entire fields of exorcists, "Minato-kun I have a question for you"

Minato nodded for Rias to continue, "Will you join my peerage?"

He just shook his head, "Even if I wished to, and I don't, you can't recruit someone who is leagues and bounds above you in power"

Rias pouted as Sona opened her mouth, "If you ever change your mind my peerage will be open for you as well Minato-san"

The Messiah looked at her with a flat look, "I'd still say no, I rather like being human"

Rias scrunched her nose, "What's wrong with being a devil?"

The Messiah shrugged, "As I am not one, I can not be the one to tell you that. But I most certainly want to stay human, it is who I am, and who I've grown up to be, a human"

Sona nodded in understanding, "That is certainly understandable Minato-san some people do wish to be human, I hope you're still open to meetings?"

Minato shrugged, "I don't mind as long as the devils don't do something terrible" he gave a pointed look, "Like letting humans go on dates with a fallen"

Rias struggled to say something, she wanted to deny it, but something else came instead of the denial, "I would have saved Issei-kun even if you hadn't interrupted"

Minato nodded, "If you say so, now please tell me where my prisoners are, especially the fallen"

Sona nodded before jotting down the directions for the massive infirmary in the Old School building they'd managed to hide away for an emergency, "Here you go Minato-san"

"And Marius-san, Roland-san?" Sona yelled out to the other two retreating men, who had almost left, right behind the Messiah, they turned back Merlin raising a questioning eye, "Please don't let a bad apple define our species for you, we're more than them you know, just like humanity"

Both nodded and left, in a way relieved by the devil kind, they were certainly better than they had hoped for, maybe even tolerable.

 _~o~o~o~o~o~_

Minato had dismissed Roland to the sea of souls and Merlin to their base to spread how the meeting went, though he was sure those in the sea of souls already knew about it, and how it went.

He entered and saw the fallen were trying to get out but were unable to open the door, locked from outside, and without their wings there was little they could do, seeing him enter Dohanseek bowed his head immediately, with the other three following through soon after, "Lord Helel, it is most gracious of you to grace us with your presence"

He sighed, Helel came forth again supplying the word for them, "Sucking up to me won't remove your seal"

Raynare faltered, "Then what will!?" she shrieked but was muffled by Kalawarner, "I'm sorry my lord she is angry at herself, she'll get over it surely"

This lot, Dohanseek and Kalawarner might redeem themselves but the other two would never do it, thus he shook his head slowly, "The Fallen take pleasure in misdeeds and an abuse of the authority they have been give, steer away from thy pit of taint and once more attain pleasure through the simpler things in life, and thy will be amongst our brothers and sisters in heaven before you know it"

Dohanseek's eyes widened and Raynare stopped yelling into Kalawarner's hand, "We can be redeemed?"

Helel frowned, he concentrated on his memories, this world's memories, one of the first things father had told them whilst leaving was that he still loved them all and redemption was always open, then in his first battle with him he had revealed the path, he had shared the path with his lieutenants, they were to spread its knowledge, Lucifer was many things but even in his bitterness he cared deeply for his siblings, the fallen ones, because he felt responsible for them, then why is that these fallen were never told that? "You never knew?"

Dohanseek gulped, "No my lord we all at one point or the other have wished to go home" his eyes dropped, "not that we ever did"

Helel sighed, was this all the Fallen were, misled children, surely not. Azazel was a dangerous foe and Barqueil a bloody sadist, he sighed, it was easier when he was only of heaven, so much easier, "Leave the Grigori and go into hiding, you know how to redeem yourself, do so with great impunity, or waste this golden chance to go back to heaven" he shook his head, "I no longer lead the fallen. or them. I am who I was, and nothing-"

"What about your devil son?" Kalawarner asked innocently.

Helel withdrew to the deeper parts of the sea of souls as if scorched by fire, 'OH HO HO, who's laughing now you white winged demon?' and there was Bael.

'I will be once you remember that Rias is your a result of your progeny!' Helel's response was quick, and it pierced through Bael who had ignored their meeting

'NOOOOOO!' As Bael yelled in agony leaving even demons like Belial snorting at him Helel laughed triumphantly, and Solomon sighed, 'Stop crying Bael, I'm sure your clan heir will make up for the disappointments your blood has brought'

Minato smiled as the angel, devil and human continued conversing and laughing at each other, imagine that, a Archdemon, a Seraph and the wisest human in history chortling and jostling amongst each other, he supposed they eventually had to let go of their differences after the long war they had with Erebus.

He went back home content with the days events once more flanked by his loyal Paladin, "Let's go Roland"

"Yes my lord" Roland followed him, he had been far more relaxed after it was revealed the devils weren't scheming hags after all.

They had just taken the first turn choosing to walk after their meeting instead of hassling Merlin, and suddenly a small blonde girl, wearing a tradition maki pulled his hand, Roland looked at her inquisitively whilst Minato just re equipped Helel, "What can I do for the Kyuubi on this pleasant day?"

The girl maintained her composure and bowed to him, "I am Princess Kunou of the Youkai faction, my mother requests an audience with you Lord Seraph" Inside however she was almost bursting in worry how had the Seraph hid so perfectly until now?

'Stupid Senjutsu' grumbled Helel as Minato thought about meeting with the Youkai, clearly they had been observing him going to school as that was the only feasible way of contacting him with Merlin warding the base to high heavens, "How about in three days at Akihabara? My friend and I will be fairly obvious to notice, there are somethings that I need to deal with, and some people I need to check on"

Kunou bit her lip, her mother wanted to meet the seemingly new player, now revealed to be an angel (at least to her senjutsu senses), right after the devils to make sure they had not polluted his mind with lies against the Youkai, but if that was the best she could do then that would have to do, "I'll hold you to that" with that she vanished in a poof of golden dust, going back to the alley nearby, from where her guard took her back to Kyoto.

Later that day they were in Merlin's french castle the exorcists were delivered anonymously after having knowledge censored to make a more believable version of their defeat than, 'The Paladin of Charlemagne with Durandal beat the smack out of us'

Now they once more stood in the courtyard, for one thing, it was time for Merlin to take his leave to find the candidate suitable for welding the boosted gear they had retrieved, unknowingly to anyone Minato had helped Issei one last time as a gift for his nature by unlocking his balance breaker, though not as strong as the Boosted Gear his power would still be increased by a factor of sixteen by the four multiplications of the Twice Critical's balance breaker, why one thought it was a weak gear he'd never understand.

Abandoning his thoughts, from the sea of souls he summoned the persona in his mind, " **Persona** "

 **"I was the promised King**

His glorious armour shines, with blue lines running through various spots as the reinforcement Merlin had made.

 **Friend of the fae folk**

His sword, though it was in its sheath, flooded the environment with a new blazing feeling of hope and acceptance, in its royal blue sheath was a holy sword.

 **The Bane of Saxons and the Champion of Camelot**

A helm covered his head, and red cape bellowed in the wind.

 **The master of Excalibur and Caliburn**

another sword materialised, this time on the left side of his waist, if the first sword made one feel blessed and happy the second one gave a feeling of regality and protection.

 **I am Arthur, First King of United Albion"**

Azrael and Samael knew the Messiah could summon those long gone but both of them were not present when Arthur lived and died, oh they had heard of his legend, of his nobleness and how daemons ran when he arrived, but now they were in the presence of one of the most recognisable heroes in the history of mankind, few were the mortals more well known in both the mortal and the immortal world, and even fewer were those more respected than him, it was simply awe-inspiring to see him, how he glowed with positive emotions, a sea of calm against any storm.

And then it was even more shocking when he bent his knee for the Messiah, "I am ready to serve you once more Messiah, your wishes shall not go unturned!"

Minato just smiled a mechanical smile while patting his shoulder, "Nice to see you again Arthur"

As he stood he turned his gaze to the angels and Roland giving all of them a respectful nod, getting greetings in return, then he turned to Merlin, they talked to each other in the sea of souls, often japing but with the memories of this world's Arthur it was like their bond doubled, "Warlock" The king was happy to see his dearest friend.

Merlin scoffed, "Not worth a hug anymore am I?' Arthur chuckled hugging his friend, and relishing the feeling of life, the sea of souls was not bad, but the real world was another experience in itself.

Arthur smiled warmly, "Of to drag more sprogs of mine to adventures are we?"

Merlin smirked, "Well you know me well, this warlock remains unsatisfied unless a pendragon is awed by me each generation"

Merlin bowed his head to Messiah, Arthur doing the same, "We'll be on our way then, heroes to gather and all"

Minato nodded, "Try not to restore the monarchy please"

Merlin just grinned before winking, "No promises" and entering the portal.

Arthur shook his head, "He will never change" Arthur smiled fondly under his helm, "I shall look over him Messiah"

And so one of the most well known mage-warrior combo in human history were off again, to find a hero and commit some antics while they were at it.

Minato turned to Roland who was smiling at the two, "It's amazing to see Arthur have fun when Merlin is around"

Samael raised an eyebrow, "Does he not relax otherwise?"

Roland shrugged, "He was born to be a king, composure and regality run through his blood, and nobility in his heart. The Golden King is an apt title, for his heart and abilities shine brightly akin to a golden star, truly one of the most remarkable humans to grace earth, one of the few so universally respected or feared"

Azrael was still looking at the spot Arthur stood before looking at Minato, "That was so cool!"

Minato just sweatdropped, "don't encourage them, I swear they have a competition of making these things up to look cool"

 _-o-o-o-o-o-_

In Pendragon Castle, formerly known as Camelot, Arthur (boy this is going to get confusing soon) was going to pick up Caliburn for another practice session but as he neared the armory, he was shocked to see the sword glowing and throwing lights, his father stood transfixed next to the sword, "Arthur" his father, like any descendent of Arthur, was a natural born holy sword wielder though he had given up Caliburn to him, "Why is the sword… singing?"

Arthur stood transfixed as well, The sword had briefly glowed contently when he or his father wielded but such a celebration, for what?

His father finally snapped out of his transfixation and tried gripping the sword and manually limiting the aura of the sword manually, thankfully the sword still listened to the descendent of Arthur and soon enough it had calmed down, "Skip practice for today son, let the sword have its fun for now"

Arthur nodded, "Of course father" He was an obedient son, the favoured one, the reason his sister could practice witchcraft so easily.

After his father was gone he remembered he had wanted to tell him about his relationship with the head maid, he knew it was an exercise in vain to try and make him accept him, perhaps his cousin would have some advice, at 15 years old his cousin was fairly young but a charismatic boy, he was more like the descriptions of Arthur than he ever was, which was why he looked for Excalibur Control, to give his cousin a holy sword that mattered.

Not those lightsaber knockoffs the church used, perhaps something he could acquire from heaven in return for favours, he was the strongest holy sword user after all, well whatever happened he swore a vow to get Edward a holy sword if only because he was not named Arthur despite being in the Pendragon family.

As he left for a walk outside he was stunned to see a silver haired man in robes and staff walking around with an armoured man they were laughing and chuckling muttering something about stealing a lamp post whilst the mage blushed and laughed, suddenly they came to a pause.

He looked at them, they looked at him, this continued for a minute of silent awkwardness and the armoured man hurriedly composed himself and the mage continued looking at him a blue ring around his Iris.

Then the mage spoke, "My friend"

The armoured person sighed, "Yes?"

The mage pointed at Arthur, usually he would have dismissed them at once, something told him they weren't natural people, going by their reaction to him, "I think we just found one of your sprogs"

The King studied him up and down, "I reckon that's true Merlin" he tapped his chin, "He's got my jawline"

The Mage- Merlin, Arthur scoffed- nodded, "And somehow not an inch of Le Fay's nastiness by heavens are your genes really that goody two shoes?"

Arthur had enough, he was in no mood for jesters, he pointed towards the gate, "Please leave, I won't call the police" he sniffed, "Or the mental asylum"

The King of Camelot removed his helm to reveal a smiling face similar to him with sandy blonde hair, "Come now boy, is that any way to talk to your great grandpa?"

Merlin snorted, "Yes please respect great grandpa Arthur, the grand old man of Camelot" his own staff changed to a more decorated one whilst his eyes flared blue.

Arthur was shaking, it can't be possible, it cannot be Merlin and Arthur were dead, "Prove it then!"

The King smiled gently at his descendent, "Oh you younglings never change, I myself was like you. Except the bloody mage turned me into a women when I asked from proof" He winked at Arthur, "I won't do that I swear"

The King withdrew his sword, the second one, before pointing behind him where Merlin had teleported his Father who was watching the scene happen with wide eyes, "Light the world, **Excalibur**!"

White. Everything was so bright white for the briefest of moments, the light that the man in front of him just produced, it was infinitely more than than he had ever done so, it was heartwarming, so comforting, and absolutely blinding to allies, he dreaded to think what it would do its enemies, was this the power of his ancestor? They, who had always claimed Caliburn was superior to Excalibur were stunned, because never in history had Caliburn made such a blast of light, was it the wielder or was Excalibur's claim as the holiest sword true after all?

His father was the first to fall, but he and the rest followed, it was an echoing cry and their king accepted all with a serene smile radiating regality, charisma leaking from him.

Resounding cries were heard throughout the castle, "Hail Arthur, the greatest King of Camelot"

 _~o~o~o~o~o~_

Dulio had just landed in Tokyo, and he was on his way to Kuoh, the mission was simple. Well first his usual habit, all the exotic foods in the world and the children that needed it. Well off went the strongest exorcist to grab some lunch and then kill some devil and retrieve the nuns, including that Asia girl, hopefully she was fine, he had met her, she was a very nice girl, very saintly than those heroes that had tried to convince him to join, he had ended up beating their leader in one on one and then let them go, maybe they'd done something with their lives, used their gifts to actually protect humanity and not preach genocide.

So he went on to lunch and then feeding the poor before finally leaving for the town, and the first church in his list, there only two, this would be a fast mission.

 _-o-o-o-o-o-_

Jeanne D'arc had just crossed over to Albion with Leonardo, when they saw that massive explosion of light, it was so far away yet anyone with an ability to sense light could sense it miles away, Cao Cao promised he'd come if a problem arose, looked like he'd end up coming sooner that expected.

The same light was trying to escape Albion but Merlin managed to lock all of from going haywire outside Albion, where the angels might have sensed it.

 _~o~o~o~o~o~_

Both Sirzechs and Azazel had come running once contacted by the fallen and Rias.

Sirzechs looked at Rias with his eyes narrowed, "His mage cast a truth field?"

"That should be impossible, truth fields are lost magics, last time they were used was in 3rd Century A.D by a mage that almost killed an ultimate-devil for daring to try and steal a soul from that wretched Island"

Rias looked at Sirzechs worry in her eyes, "You will talk to him oni-sama?"

Sirzechs smiled briefly but nodded grimly soon after, "I will have a word with him, so will Azazel I think"

Whilst they talked Azazel talked to Dohanseek the least scared of the four, "A twelve winged angel resides in the boy?"

Dohanseek lifted his shirt, "And he left this mark"

As Azazel paled seeing the personal mark of Helel he looked back at the fallen angel imploring him to complete, "He said he was Helel, Lord of the Sixth Heaven"

Azazel took started panicking before slumping into a chair, " **No one gets to know about this, clear?** "

All four nodded, afraid of the fallen angel.

'This is bad. Really really bad, for brother to return as an angel'

He groaned, "Why couldn't he stay dead"

With a long suffering breath he got up, he had some calls to make, the intention of inquiring what they were doing here running away in the fear that seized him when Helel was mentioned. Suddenly hiding the path to redemption seemed like a _very_ bad idea.


	6. Chapter 5

**~o~o~o~o~o~**

There was a jovial mood in the ancient castle of Camelot, somehow after millenia both Arthur and Merlin had come back, the current head, Laurence immediately declared a feast in honour of both the men, the Archmage and the King of Camelot, it was here the King and Merlin found themselves sitting next to each other at the head of a table, watching as the Pendragon family sat for the feast.

Merlin looked at his friend before looking at their seats, "He's not my wife you know?"

The king just nodded at Merlin, "You may be my best friend but the fate of being married to you I would not curse any women with"

The rest of the Pendragon family did not even try to interrupt, letting the two legends just continue conversing like two old friends at dinner, the camaraderie of Arthur and Merlin clear for all to watch, "So Laurence, what have you all been up to when I was gone?"

"Not much your grace, the Pendragon family has been in Camelot for centuries, always standing guard to keep Albion safe from invaders" He smiled proudly, "Our family personally broke the German command codes during the world war and brokered many deals ensuring Germany could never land on Albion"

Merlin nodded at the man, "That's nice and all but what happened to Excalibur?"

Laurence froze, how could he tell his king that his beloved blade was broken into seven pieces after his death, "What happened to Excalibur Laurence?"

It was not the patriarch that spoke, but Arthur junior, "After you died Albion was thrown into chaos your majesty, the Pendragon family desperately held together the shreds of Albion against the invaders and Mordred, before finally in a decisive battle King Loras Pendragon slew Mordred by the true Excalibur"

Arthur clenched his fists as he continued the tale, "But all was not well, when the good king had defeated the invaders and Mordred he was struck in his vulnerable back by the damnable demons, so great was there fear of Excalibur being once more held by a king as great as you that they used foul means to break the sword into seven shards, each possessing the hint of its strength and identity once mustered by Excalibur"

He took in a deep breath continuing, "Soon, before an outraged heaven could startup the war against the devils again, the devils started their own civil war with the pacifistic side winning"

Merlin nodded in understanding, "So the devils responsible for the act are dead?"

Laurence just shook his head, "That is where the tale begins, without Excalibur the Pendragon family for all its might was pushed back to the defensive till we had to fade out of public life entirely, and transfer our energy to making the invaders more like us. from the shadows we continued fighting any supernatural strength, but a United Albion was only doctored when Scotland and England entered a personal union, once more uniting Albion under one dynasty"

King Arthur sighed, "It is not your fault my children, I could not be more proud of you all, for no matter how dark the times the house of Pendragon still stands and still protects our legacy"

Merlin nodded, "Besides now that we are back we can actually see that the Pendragon family get back on its feet"

Edward was the next one to raise his voice, "Pardon me your majesty but did the church cede the pieces back to you? For a mage like Lord Merlin I cannot fathom even reforging the holiest sword was a task too difficult and you also possess another Caliburn?" There was some want in his eyes, but greater was his admiration for Arthur, the noblest king of Camelot. Edward had dreamed to be like him, and now in front of him stood the King himself.

Arthur just shook his head, before he put forward the, in the most suiting words, why he had two swords he should have not had possession of, "You see my children, I was summoned to take the prime form of my life, and as it stands in the prime of my life I wielded both Excalibur and Caliburn" He shrugged, "So as it stands despite having my memories till my last breath in Camelot with Merlin by my side I stand as I did in my prime"

Laurence leaned in, "Who could summon you my king, the king of chivalry and the greatest mage to exist?" Unknown to everyone but Arthur, Merlin and Arthur junior the maid Elaine Wescott was also listening to their conversation, though she did a good enough job that only her lover and the two veterans of cutthroat politics could sense her eavesdropping.

Arthur looked conflicted, and he looked to Merlin for guidance, Merlin simply shrugged, the king sighed and looked at the maid, "Please shut the doors, child" the maid muttered your majesty, before exiting and shutting the door as she left and Merlin cast a strong spell to stop sound from leaving the room, "We are here for a purpose"

"Everything we have is at your disposal my king, from our contacts to our swords all shall answer their king when he calls for them" For the pendragons there would be no greater honour than to aid their king when he would call for them.

Merlin shook his head, "We're not here for such aid Laurence" he looked into his eyes, "We're here to pick a possible hero candidate to train to be one of the guardians of Humanity"

Arthur Junior raised his hand, "Both Edward and I are suitable for such a task my lord"

Arthur shook his head with a small smile, "I take comfort from your loyalty child but we are not here to recruit a hero through loyalty to me, the life of a hero is one of the toughest there is, none have to make sacrifices like ours" He gave a supportive yet indulgent smile to the rest of the room, "Had I chosen to accept Mordred I would have lived, my love and friends safe but I was a hero"

The smallest amount of bitterness entered his eyes before it went away, "I was hero thus I abandoned my love for my people, I was a hero thus I marched at to my death as Merlin protested against this course, I was a hero thus when Clarent stabbed through my stomach delivering a fatal blow I thought no thoughts but of my people and delivered unto him the wrath of Excalibur"

He smiled sadly, "I love you all, for you are my kin. My blood thus I tell you this truth, the life of a hero is gruelling and unkind, it is hard to do what is right and not easy" He patted Edward and Arthur's shoulder, "It out of my love for you I tell you this harsh truth of our lives" His eyes glinted, "So by the dawn of the third day should you still chose to take the offer I have give feel free to join us, I offer all to join the training sessions for Merlin and I anyways"

The dinner finally concluded on a lighter tone with the Pendragons going to bed, or in the case of the two cousins, to balconies as they pondered the words of King Arthur.

Arthur was conflicted he heard his namesakes words, he loved Elaine Westcott, would he sacrifice his love for her to save the day, his love for his sister to protect his people? It was his duty as a noble to do so, doubly so as the Heir of Pendragon yet he was filled with doubt was this why the king could release enough energy to destroy an army whilst he could not, was the king's willingness to sacrifice himself why he was immortalised so deeply by his descendents, as the unattainable target to be reached by any means?

"You seem troubled young pendragon" Arthur did not need to turn to know the Archmage of Camelot stood next to him.

"Did you really try to stop his majesty from fighting in the final battle?" He almost regretted asking such a question but this was an answer was something he deeply desired.

Merlin's blue eyes seemed to look in the distance, as if recalling an even of the long past, which he probably was, "He was my friend, my brother" He snorted, "I begged him to stay, aye"

He looked at the moon, "I was fighting a dragon in the North whilst he was stabbed" Merlin eyes lit up as blue magic danced along his fingers, "Whilst I banished an evil drake back into the tundra my brother was sent to his deathbed" His fists clenched, "By a sword I made myself, a sword never meant to touch blood much less be used to _kill Arthur_ "

He smiled at the young boy, "Had I let the North freeze and it's people die I could have saved him that day, but then would I be able to live with myself? Knowing I abandoned so many to a freezing death"

Merlin shrugged, "Arthur was a too harsh on you my boy, abandoning love for duty, it is fine at times but in this modern era there'll never come the day we won't fight alongside you"

Merlin kept on talking, despite the fact he was tracing the hostile presence that had made camp outside, Arthur probably knew about it too, till they acted there was no need to actually be proactive when they had the greatest wards in history guarding Camelot.

Merlin looked at the younger Arthur in front of him, "But he did not lie, he wants true dedication to guarding the world, if you can't do so then it's perfectly understandable. We do not expect everyone to just give everything up and join our faction, that's why after scouting for potential candidates we'll probably approach the church to borrow some of their exorcists"

Arthur shook his head, he was a descendent of the first king of Albion, for so long he had trained his body and spirit to take on the mantle of the next Lord of the Pendragon house, to be the next Shield of Albion, now when his king called for them could he really give up and still look his love in her eyes? Could he look his sister in her eyes when he refused destiny?

He shook his head and stood up going back inside, "I may not be his majesty, but this duty of ours runs through our blood" He nodded to Merlin, "I'll fight, it is not in our blood to stay out of the action for too long"

Merlin smiled, "I hoped so" He winked at him, "Go sleep now, you wouldn't want to miss me and grandpa Pendragon thrashing around a bunch of unfortunate folks who think they can hide from me just because they're out of the wards"

Arthur's eyes widened, "Are we under attack?"

Merlin chortled, "With the amount of firepower we have in Camelot plus the unrestrained wards _they'd_ have a better chance fighting a god-king"

Arthur smiled, "It seems I had forgotten who were residing with us"

Merlin snorted, "Go to bed kid, Arthur will hold your trials tomorrow to see which blade suits you best"

The Pendragon heir bowed his head respectfully before withdrawing back to the castle.

Merlin narrowed his eyes, blue flared to life as his vision turned blue, looking at two souls he could almost realise he smiled, "My my, what secrets are you hiding~"

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

Minato walked into the church, he had sent Roland home whilst he took a detour. Something felt off about the church, dare he say sinister, he walked in only to find a red haired devil sitting in the middle of the empty chambers, the cross and the pews were removed, "I hope you don't mind the redecoration Minato-kun"

A cheery devil, just what he needed, "I'm afraid I don't know you" he took the seat opposite to him, he had already equipped Solomon and cast a spell to let the ones back at base see why he was late.

The Devil got up and gave a short showman's bow, "I am one of the four satans of the underworld, Satan Lucifer at your service, mister Arisato, quite an interesting figure you made in front of my sister"

"Don't lie to me" Bael once more came to the forefront of his mind, 'That's no Lucifer, it's another one of those Gremory sprogs!'

Sirzechs shook his head, "I assure you, I am the Satan Lucifer, I know I look amazing and-"

Minato sighed, "You're a Gremory, I am fairly certain Lucifer's gone for good" He saw the devil's eyebrows go up before he shook his head.

"Now I understand what you mean Minato, I can call you that can't I?" Receiving a nod, "You see Minato, after Lucifer kicked the bucket, the original four satan's progeny took over"

"They were really nasty and wanted to continue the great war even though it would have killed the devils as a species had we continued the fruitless war, so we deposed them through a civil war"

Sirzechs waved his hand, letting four figures appear, with one of them being him, "With our victory we became the next four satans, as tradition held we adopted the names of the former satans" He pointed at himself, "Satan Sirzechs Lucifer, formerly of the Gremory Clan" then he pointed at the women, "Satan Serafall Leviathan, formerly of the Sitri Clan" Then came the bald devil, "Satan Falbium Asmodeus, formerly of Glasya-Labolas Clan" the red haired satan grinned, "And finally my best friend, Satan Ajuka Beelzebub, formerly of the Astaroth Clan"

Minato nodded, "Would it be bad if I killed an Astaroth?"

Sirzechs sweatdropped at the blunt boy, Rias had shown him the file assembled by the blue haired boy on the Astaroth boy, "Usually it would be, but for this one time since I'm inclined to agree with you I'll let it slide"

Minato nodded in appreciation, before nodding at the Satan again, "Do you have nothing else to say?"

Sirzechs smiled not commitedly, "As a Satan I am supposed to be impartial in the internal affairs of hell"

His smile grew forced, "It includes me being neutral even if my sister was to be forced to marry an absolute shitbag who'd see her as nothing but a sex toy"

Minato just looked at the Satan, "Are you requesting my aid?"

Sirzechs shrugged helplessly, "I stay neutral because I have to but you have to understand Minato I can't let my sister just be blatantly forced into such an abhorrent marriage"

Minato nodded, "I have one condition, if you want my help"

Sirzechs made a continue on motion, "The devils stop reincarnating humans with sacred gears, those that want to be recruited are brought to me first so that I can remove their sacred gear"

Sirzechs narrowed his eyes, "That would be very hard Minato, I can't just order everyone to stop recruiting sacred gear users, they're the most preferable recruits after all" his eyes narrowed accusingly, "And remove them? How?"

Minato shrugged, "I have my ways" He stared at the Satan, "It's a simple deal, the devils simply stop taking candy from humans like a bully because Humanity can't make them stop and in return I save your sister from a fate worse than death"

Sirzechs bit his lip, he loved his sister, but he was the Satan of Hell, he had a responsibility to his people, "I- this is not fair!" He huffed, "Surely you must want something, anything!?"

Minato just shrugged again, "I find it a profitable deal, the devils don't do something they're not supposed to in the first place and in return I bail your sister out" He smiled, "And of course no one is any wiser the Satan breached his neutrality"

Sirzechs eyes narrowed, "I can't agree to this, these terms are atrocious"

Minato just looked at him, "Would you like for me to start taking the sacred gears back?" He looked imploringly at Sirzechs, "Because I'm tempted to do just that if you don't stop _poaching the potential of Humanity_ "

Sirzechs eyes dropped before he sighed, "Fine!" he shook his head, the things he did for his sister, "Bah you can have your precious relics"

Minato smiled and offered his hand to Sirzechs, "A deal then?"

Sirzechs snorted, "A deal with the devil" He gripped Minato's arm, "Though I'm not sure who the devil is" Bael roared in laughter, 'The Messiah is far more devil than your puny devilness'

 **(A/N: Minato would have helped her regardless after hearing what would have happened, but he wanted to try and get something out of Sirzechs, because he has little faith in the Satan, cause at the end of the day thats just the sort of swell guy Minato is- someone who'd help anybody if he can)**

Minato just stared at him after they agreed on it and he'd pulled out a contract out, imbued with both of their magic they have signed it, with consequences if one breached it.

"I have one last question Satan Lucifer" Minato had one pressing question, he had it ever since he had read the report on Diodora.

Sirzechs looked up at him, "Yes?"

Minato's eyes pierced into Sirzechs own, "Can I have faith that you will control your people and not let another genocide occur?" He continued on ignoring the startled Sirzechs, "Because as it turns out, the more you commit shady mass murders like this the less I'm inclined to trust the devils as a race"

Sirzechs just looked at him, "I saved as many as I could" He wondered if his voice sounded as weak to Minato as it did to him.

Minato raised an eyebrow, "The strongest devil, the current _Lucifer_ , could save a mere _one_ Nekomata out of all the ones that existed in the underworld?"

As he left the church Sirzechs was left standing there, he knew his inaction during the Nekomata Massacre would come back to bite him in his ass, no matter how many excuses he made he knew who was responsible. Whilst Nekomata themselves didn't go to an endangered species, with around half of them surviving the Nekoshou, a sub species had two living members in it, with the devils still working hard to halve that number.

He sighed as he took a portal home, at least Rias would be safe, he did not know then, but his answer had left discontent in the heart of the Messiah, though the Messiah knew better than to blame the current generation he was once more aware that the devils did not have the same moral compass he used, and he was scared of it, if genocide was not abhorrent to the devils then what was?

Minato stopped himself from going down that path, he'd go to the underworld and see that the souls of the dead had actually passed on peacefully with Thanatos but he needed to stop thinking about the crimes committed by the devils, what he had secured today was a great step in keeping the tools of humanity within humanity, asides from that the pieces were already moving and his faction was being prepared.

A faction for Humanity other than the heavenly influenced and greatly ineffective church, they'd officially proclaim it in Thebes, there they'd finally tell the world of a new faction, a faction that stood for many human values- Justice and Liberty being the most prominent.

He digressed, it would still take a fair amount of time to actually set up the infrastructure and train up the first candidates to proper standards.

He entered the house, going to brief the angels of his plans for the near future, all this activity was really tiring. And to think a month ago he wanted to sit and brood.

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

The sun rose in Britain, and the residents of Camelot woke up, Laurence was hurriedly searching for his king, invaders had laid siege to Camelot, monsters stood encircling the castle, and at the helm of the army a blonde women in light armour stood alongside a boy that looked no older than twelve.

Laurence finally entered the armoury where he finally found his king, "My King! We are under attack!"

Arthur looked up, Edward was strapping the last part of his armour before handing his helm to Arthur, he smiled at his descendent, "At ease my child, so long as I stand" He was handed Excalibur by Edwards, pinning his red cape he just grinned, "Nothing can ever threaten Camelot and her people" Putting on his helm he motioned for the rest of the Pendragon men to armour up, Arthur junior was already in plate, with Caliburn by his side.

Laurence quickly put on his own plate and picked up an older sword, it was not one of the holy swords but it was better than what the church used.

The King of Camelot looked at the armoured Edward, the fifteen year old with sandy-blonde hair had practiced late into the night, he was enthusiastically preparing to join his ancestor in the quest to be the first of the guardians of humanity

Arthur passed Caliburn to Edwards, "You can have it on loan for now child, now then there is no reason to panic, the only reason Merlin hasn't activated the wards as he felt these are decent candidates"

And so they were on their way, The King of Camelot in his armour surrounded by armoured men of great virtue.

Arthur smiled it felt like the good old days when he and his knights fought off entire armies by themselves.

Edward's eyes were on his idol, the king of Camelot as they walked towards the waiting enemies, he couldn't wait for the enemy to be shown how badly they had messed up by attacking Camelot when the King himself held the fort.

Arthur looked at the two miscreants that had the guts to attack Camelot, "So then, who is it that dares to lay siege upon Camelot?"

The women stepped forward first, "I am Jeanne D'arc" she smirked at the King, "The heir of the Maiden of Orleans, a member of the hero faction"

Leonardo nodded to the King respectfully, "I am Leonardo, the current wielder of the Annihilation Maker"

Edward almost snorted at the Jeanne, did she not realise that she spoke to the King of Camelot himself?

Arthur waived his hand, "Though you have attacked my home it is tradition for I to hear the grievances of even enemies, speak your piece Jeanne D'arc"

And so began the spiel of the hero faction, the regular talk about how Humanity was oppressed and how to change that Cao Cao was leading a squad to end the supernatural and let a new golden age of enlightenment and prosperity come for humanity.

The Pendragon side was shocked by the vitriol in someone who claimed to be Jeanne of Orleans.

The King glared at her before shaking his head, "You talk of peace, there is no peace in killing millions of innocents. You talk of potential, there is no potential in your madness. You talk of order, yet there is nothing but chaos in your order. You talk of your revolutionary leader, yet there is no bigger coward than he who makes others taint their souls for the peace of one night" drawing in both the heroes.

He walked up to the women, causing her to take a few steps back, "Listen carefully, for your incessant prattling of chaos and insanity have tested my patience, you call yourselves heroes?"

The King of Camelot slowly unsheathed Excalibur, "I, Arthur son of Uther, the First king of Albion name you not heroes! But villains!" his sword glowing, "Take out the terracotta toys Merlin"

The Mage uncloaked in the air, floating a good ten metres in the air, blue runic circles surrounded him, before the runic circle vanished, and then a hundred circles appeared.

All of them fired, the monsters of Leonardo tried to attack or dodge, but it was all in vain, like a hot knife through butter blue spears of magical energy sliced through his monsters, which could resist magic, spears landed around both Jeanne D'arc and Leonardo.

Jeanne was shaking as she was pale looking at the spear that was within a centimetre of her face, "Please, your majesty forgive us"

Arthur shook his head, "It is not I that can forgive you" Excalibur glowed brightly, "But perhaps seeing the light can lead you to a better path, **Light the path, Excalibur!"** Arthur had held back the first time he had let his beloved sword lose, its morale and spirit healing abilities were second to none, and now it showed, Merlin could only make the Light invisible to the non-supernatural eyes but he could do little more than watch helplessly as the massive pillar of light that had enveloped Jeanne and Leonardo shot to the heavens, it's purity and hope bringing abilities being felt all the way in Kuoh by the Messiah who just sighed, laying low as going to be a defeated plan now.

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

In the Vatican an elderly man looked in the direction of the pillar of light in awe, "Such purity" Looking at it he found it harder to believe God was supposed to be dead, he turned to the Swiss Guard that stood next to him, "Send a delegation to check what happened in Britain" With a bow the Swiss Guard soldier was on his way to relay the orders he had received, perhaps once Dulio returned he ought to send him to check in with the Pendragon family as well.

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

A fallen angel couldn't believe it, in front of him was the massive pillar, could it be that it was not too late? His mind went back to his plan, before firm resolve entered his mind again, for his Father's children to thrive, the supernatural had to go, false hopes and false calls had made him lose faith in any such hope.

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

"Why?!" Azazel slammed his head onto the wall next to him, "This isn't even supposed to be possible!"

He grumbled, "All that I did to make sure that damned thing doesn't come back and presto it's back with a bloody compatible wielder as well" First Helel is around with his shiny white wings and now a personification of Arthur that somehow had the complete Excalibur, he groaned, "Time to put on my apologising face"

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

Jeanne and Leonardo meanwhilst had a totally different experience, inside that light they thought would be death but it was something different, visions of Humans, Archdemons and Archangels playing with each other.

So much hope, so much light, the charms and promises of Cao Cao seemed so _vacant_ in front of this, this massive bunch of positive energy, at the same time it was like another soul woke up within Jeanne, she saw a life- not quite her own but at the same time it was her own.

She saw the maiden of Orleans, from her birth to her acceptance of all, how at the stake an Englishmen, her bitter enemy, wept for her and gave her one last reprieve.

She saw how her predecessor was tolerant, how she was kind, how she was accepting, and for the first time in her life Jeanne felt ashamed of herself, ashamed at how she had dragged the name Jeanne D'arc through the dirt by allying with the stupid hero faction.

Leonardo was never a firm believer in Cao Cao anyways, washed away by this wave of light, brought to the depths of his mind he abandoned the idea of the hero faction all the same.

They had challenged the King of Camelot as two extremists, he sentenced them to a new life through his righteous light, and from the light came two heroes with nought a trace to be found of the monsters that went in.

In Britain a blonde girl of the Pendragon family felt as if she just missed one of the coolest moments in her life, Le Fay shrugged and continued the notes sent to her by Elaine, she'd show Arthur and Edward how strong her magic became soon enough.

 **That's it for this chapter it focused more on what Arthur and Merlin were up to and Minato's deal with Sirzechs, though to clear something up Minato would have helped her regardless after hearing what would have happened if he didn't but he wanted to try and get something out of Sirzechs, because he has little faith in the Satan.**

 **And moar reactions next chapter, especially from Heaven as Minato is no longer a hidden identity, well Arthur isn't.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Not a lot of action in this chapter but the setting up was required for the next chapter to actually have some more action, we'll see where Merlin went off too in the next chapter**

~o~o~o~o~o~

Michael was looking at the pillar of light, for three minutes the pillar had been blazing a marvelous light, asides from his father only one man had the ability to do something of this scale.

He wanted to shake his head away, maybe investigate this source of light, but the light reminded him so much of father, it was transfixing and warm. Reminding him of a better time. When the towers of heaven still stood without decline.

Each day the light of heaven grew weaker, it was marginal, and heaven would not fall, he clenched his fists as guilt swarmed his heart, Metatron would have not let heaven sail to such an inglorious death. _He_ wouldn't have let heaven suffer through such a depressing long death but for now he let go of his worries as he stared at the light that seemed almost as pure as his father.

Michael was surprised as someone hugged him, a hand reached out wiping eyes, had he been crying?

"Don't cry brother" It was Gabriel that had hugged him, for the last millenia all the other Seraphs had continued to support Michael told him often nothing was his own fault, they never convinced him but it warmed his heart all the same to receive such support from his siblings, "Are we going to see what happened?"

Michael nodded, "The church is already on it, regardless the light has done us a great favour all those who were in the safety net had a change of heart due to the light"

Gabriel moved away, "I'll tell Raphael and Uriel we are going to earth"

Michael raised an eyebrow, "We?"

"Well I can't let something with such potential run away and hide can I?"

Gabriel smiled brightly at Michael, causing her brother to smile back, as hard as it was to smile Michael did so for his sister, "You just want to go out again"

Gabriel grinned before she vanished, presumably going to tell the rest of the Seraphs they'd be looking for the source of this light.

Michael returned to look at the pillar of light, after fifteen minutes if was finally fading away, but birds still sung in its wake, the sun sparkled brighter and the grass looked greener, if only for a moment it felt like his father was among the living again.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Back in Camelot the Pendragon Family and the two new candidates were now in one of the many training fields of Camelot, Laurence was gone to talk with the church, The King had said he could have done it himself but his descendent had been insistent that the matter of arranging a meeting with the church was not something a king did.

So here stood the King of Camelot, four possible candidates to become the first heroes of this generation, five swords were embedded in rocks. Before Merlin had gone they had created some basic holy swords embedded with a powerful charm to only use a portion of it's enhancements directly relative to how dedicated they were to their cause, though not the most powerful of swords they would serve as a fine induction to their cause, only the noblest of people could lift the sword out of the stone, "In front of you, are five holy swords made by Merlin"

Looking at their questioning looks he smiled, these days reminded him how he trained knights when Camelot was at peace, "These are not as strong as real holy swords like Excalibur or even the shards that are supposed to be Excalibur"

He pulled a sword out of the stone, "These are swords of convictions, so long as you hold true to your cause, so long as rage never empowers you and grudges tempt no vengeance, so long as you remember even in the darkest of your moments the cause you fight for is worth fighting for" The sword lit up, with blue fire surrounding it as gold runes carved on it came to life, "Never should this sword fail you" He swung it at one of Leonardo's monster conjured up for this reason and sparring, the swipe released a blue energy strike that had a core of white, it did not obiltrate the monster but the monster was beheaded all the same, "It is no Excalibur" Arthur grinned at his students, "but not to shabby eh?" He only laughed at the dumb nods from his students as they saw the result of one night of hard work from Merlin, Merlin was a master at making swords and armours- having forged both Clarent and Caliburn with nothing but insights from Oberon and sheer hard work.

The King motioned to the swords in front of them, "Go ahead, feel free to take your sword" He looked with a critical eye of the King of Camelot and the guiding smile of a mentor, Leonardo had little trouble removing his sword, the little boy had been asked by Merlin if he didn't want to go back to a normal family, Even he had felt war was no place for a child even if he had a Longinus sacred gear.

The boy had impassionately declared his intention to stay- and though the King and Merlin agreed he should not be sent to the frontline unless absolutely necessary,- he had great conviction and it showed as he pulled out the sword with no problem, the only trouble it gave him was it's relatively large size and even that ceased being a problem as an enchantment kicked in, reducing the size of the sword proportionately to be a fit for its wielder.

Jeanne had seized her own sword with immense zeal withdrawing the sword effortlessly, regardless of her past with the spirit of her ancestor now merged with her the new maiden of Orleans was undoubtedly devoted this new cause, and it showed as her sword flashed to white before it returned to the dormant state it was supposed to be like whilst not in active use.

With a grin of excitement Edward withdrew his sword, not to fast nor to quick the young Pendragon's sword blazed to life as he held it up, blue fire swirled around it and sporadic bursts of light accompanied it, before he held it pointed down and the light show died down, Arthur smiled at his descendent patting his shoulder with a look of pride on his face, who smiled back with a smile just as bright like the king had when he had met Merlin for the first time.

Young Arthur pulled his own sword with great trepidation, unlike his comrades his pull was marred with doubt in himself, doubts that had rose again once Merlin had left, despite being a great deal more certain in himself than before, he gave a tug and disappointment filled his eyes as the sword was slowly coming out.

The king shook his head and was quick to cross the distance between them and hold his shoulder, before looking right in his eyes as his other hand prevented Arthur from continuing to draw his own sword, "You are still hesitant my child" It would only hurt his descendent if he went down this path without the conviction that this job demanded.

Arthur looked down, doubts echoed back before he decided to spill, "Is it wrong that my love obstructs my duty? What use is a Pendragon that does not understand sacrifice?"

To his surprise the king gently laughed as he patted his descendent on his shoulder, "Oh my lad, I think you took the wrong meaning from my address"

His eyes once more met with the King who continued,"It is not that heroes do not love, we are only human" He grinned at the heir of his house, "It is not that I did not love my beloved queen as I marched to my predestined death"

"I had my own doubts, my own selfish problems that were my own faults" Looking at the raised eyebrows he shrugged, "I am hardly perfect" his statement was met with incredulous eyes, he _was_ supposed to be perfect.

"It is not love that will ever hinder duty, not duty that shall ever hinder your love" Arthur felt relief slowly enter him as the king continued, "A hero is not defined by a lack of love, a true hero is defined by how they love yet for that love they sacrifice everything, it is the ability to love yet understand the needs of many over your own that define a hero"

The king walked back and pointed at the sword, "Pull the sword my child, I have faith in you"

Arthur looked at the sword, he was the strongest holy sword, confidence slowly gathered in him and seeped into his eyes, his King had faith in him, his hand clenched the sword, getting anticipatory looks from his comrades.

The King smiled at his descendent as he looked at him before resuming his draw, sometimes all heroes needed was someone to believe in them, when he had doubts his knights had believed in him, their faith in him had erased his doubts. Here he was doing the same thing as his knights, he wondered if the Messiah would let the ones that dwelled within the sea of souls come out to train the upcoming heroes.

Arthur smiled after seeing the smile his king held, as his hand held the sword a simple thought was all he had, user, his life was devoted to protect Britain from any foreign incursions, from childhood he had been certain of only one thing, 'I am Arthur Pendragon, the shield of Albion'

Blue fire once more came to life around his sword, light he had within him appearing for all to see, blue light flashed brightly his eyes lit as his inherent light combined with the sword's imbued light briefly letting his eyes become bright blue, for a moment he held his form the power of his faith in the King's words reinforcing his newborn confidence, Laurence paused in his conversation, resting the phone on his table, he took out his phone snapping a picture of Arthur secretly, before smiling, "Make us proud my little Arthur" He had always been proud of his son, such moments only increased his pride, much like the first time he had defeated him in a spar, till the day Caliburn claimed him as his own and transferred ownership to the young heir.

Back in the training grounds Edward was grinning at his cousin, he had grown concerned when Arthur had shown doubt but he held faith that his idol would help his cousin, and he did, his admiration for his greatest ancestor only grew by folds and he grinned at how his cousin pulled his own sword out, remembering the King's great pillar as it lit up the world _literally_ led him to wonder if subtlety just wasn't the way of the Pendragons, before he shrugged, this was cooler anyways!

~o~o~o~o~o~

Asia was a happy nun, after she had voiced her will to join her Angel's faction she had been trained in combat and though she would never hold a candle to true combatants at the very least she had learned how to do a basic parry using the sword given to her, her main focus was on healing as she was tasked with learning magic by Merlin.

The revelation of so many legendary heroes had left her dazed in awe before she praised the lord and started working heavily on both magic and healing, choosing to try and combine healing with spells to increase her range of her healing.

In Kuoh Minato had been planning to meet some deities on his own terms especially one like Hades, he had to clear any misunderstanding _before_ they actually came to know about Zeus not visiting him, well not in the real way. With Merlin leaving the Messiah had gotten called upon a new mage to make up for the lack of Merlin, so far he had worked with just as much precision and prowess.

Azrael had even designed a new uniform for him, with a white cloak over their usual black jacket and white shirt, what he had no knowledge of was how the symbol etched on his cloak was only supposed to appear at a certain time and represented something far more significant than before.

As usual Roland was the first to voice his own doubts about aiding the devils, "My lord we shouldn't have let the devils get of so easy" he shifted his eyes to the devils, he admitted they were not inherently bad people, "That crimson one reeked of malice"

His magically apt companion shook his head, "Whilst it is not wise to completely trust the devils we are morally responsible to do what we are doing right now"

Roland looked at the mage, "Surely we are not allowed to intervene in foreign matters?" It was a half hearted question.

"I know you Roland, and we both know your protest is empty, especially with the consequences at stake here" Besides the Messiah was not likely to say no to a call for help in such a situation.

Roland gunted, his eyes travelled to the second sword he carried, since he still couldn't use Durandal without restraint they were all carrying swords that their replacement mage had made, though they were different than what Merlin had made they still worked on the same principle, "It is not that I do not wish to help nor that I am reluctant to save a young lass from such a fate, it is just two lifetimes of knowing different demons that make me hesitant to trust them"

Minato nodded, had Bael not been a part of him he would have had trouble trusting him as well, "It is understandable"

Minato looked at the door of the Occult Research Club, he had never thought he would be coming here in arms yet in peace, before he knocked, and awaited a response, "Come in" The way Roland frowned it was relatively easy to understand that Minato.

And soon they were seated and sipping tea, though Roland had chosen to remain standing whilst the green eyed-Merlin's substitute and one of the older friends of both Arthur and Merlin sat next to him.

Rias looked contemplatively at them, and then at their attire, with what they wore they could almost be taken for some variant of the church forces, especially with Roland and his plate and cape, "What brings Minato-kun here today?"

She leaned in with a smile, "Perhaps you have reconsidered my offer?"

Minato shook his head, "It had come to my notice that someone wanted to force into a marriage with _unpleasant consequences_ " Noticing the look of shock on Rias's face and the forced smile of Akeno he continued on ignoring them, "I've come to offer my aid in preventing from such an undesirable fate occur"

Akeno giggled, "Minato-kun is going to protect Buchou?" she smiled at him, "Perhaps you can destroy him like the Astaroth boy?"

Rias shook her head at Akeno, as much as she despised Riser she did not want him dead for he had never forced a women to go to bed with him, she just did not want to marry him since he was a… a degenerate!

Minato nodded towards him and his companions, "We can easily kill him, but to my knowledge having a willing harem" He pursed his lips, "is not strictly illegal"

"You don't have to worry Minato-kun" Rias smiled at him, "I'll be happy to have all the help you can give"

Before Minato could reply a crest appeared near the far end of room, making a portal appear, and out of the portal came Riser and his sixteen pawns, most of Rias's pieces were busy doing summons works and thus he was greeted only by Akeno, Rias and the Messiah and his companions.

"Here I am my darling ready-"

Rias huffed, "Cut it Riser you're never getting close to marrying me"

Riser twitched before he smiled again, "There's no need to be so argumentative Rias, you'll have all the time you want to adjust to it!"

Rias shook her head again, "No means no"

Annoyance flashed through Riser as he glared at Rias then Minato, "Is it because of this loser-"

"Fiend speak of my lord like that again and no amount of mercy will save you from losing limb" Riser glared at the offending sword that almost bit into his arm, it's flames nearly burning him.

He snorted, "Fine then Rias" He smiled waving his hand around him generously, "Since I am generous I'll give you a chance to exit this agreement" unknown to her Riser had already negotiated a rating game with her through her father and brother.

Hope appeared in Rias's eyes before Riser continued, "We'll have a rating game, if I win then you marry me, if you do our marriage is off" the last part was said with sarcasm dripping from his words.

Rias gulped before glaring at the Phenix, "It's hardly generous, my peerage is not ready!"

Riser grunted, annoyed at the fact before he sighed, "Fine, you can have ten days to train your peerage" He summoned another portal, "Not that it would make much of a difference my dear"

Rias slumped into her chair, thankful her peerage was not here to see her dismay. Riser might be arrogant but he was a fairly strong devil, one that was certainly strong enough to beat her peerage.

Minato eyed both Rias and Akeno, the first seemed to have given up whilst the other was furious at the the devil, "Prepare the best you can in those ten days"

He turned to leave, "My aid should be more than enough to win if you actually train"

Rias looked at him incredulously, "Riser might not look like much but he is a decently strong devil"

The Messiah shrugged, "Strong, weak, it matters little since all fall when the black knight takes the field, you'll find that Riser will be pushed harder than you'd think he could be pushed"

Rias just stared at the retreating back of the Messiah before she was snapped out of her stare by his knight, "Please train hard, just because my lord assists you it does not mean will carry you to freedom"

Rias nodded, "We'll do our part, thank you for your aid Roland-kun"

Roland shrugged, "I may not have a good opinion about devils" before he smiled sadly as he got up and begun to follow the Messiah, "But if I wanted to follow my grudges I should have become a mason" as he walked out Rias kept staring at the place he stood at.

"Ara ara, does Buchou like the tall mysterious knight?" Akeno smiled mischievously tugging on her king.

Rias blushed before flicking Akeno's forehead, "Don't say things like that!"

Roland shivered as he looked around, why did he suddenly get this feeling he might want to hide in a cave for the foreseeable future, before he continued after the Messiah, "Where do we go now my lord?"

Minato looked in the direction of the church, "We have to clean up the church, it should be a decent second place to make an armory at, we can't exactly make an armory in our house"

"How many more swords and enchanted cloaks do I need to make?" It was a genuine question from the accompanying sorcerer as they walked to the church.

"Not many, we'll see as we move along Aldred" was the Messiah's response.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Dulio was investigating the second church, when he had first come he had thought this was an open and shut case, injure Astaroth so badly he never dares to raise an eye at the church and rescue the nuns, now it was infinitely more complicated, the first church definitely had signs of both combat and devils, yet there was no one in the church- not even the monitor assigned to outer Tokyo.

Here he was now, and once more he was certain of the occurrence of combat though this time it seemed more had participate in it than the previous church and this time it was fairly clear that the ones to use this one were not seeking to hide properly, will all the pews and the cross removed it was clear a devil used it as a hideout.

He had was investigating the other rooms when the room was suddenly opened he immediately prepared to fight the devils if they had come but sighed as he saw white cape wearing people come in, maybe some holy order he deduced when he saw the beautiful armour worn by the knight, "Halt! Identify yourselves comrades!"

Minato had already identified the sacred gear and filed the information away, he let Roland talk to the man, who from a cursory observation looked as if was from the church.

Roland raised his own hand in greeting before removing his helm, and unsheathing Durandal, with the reveal of Arthur and Merlin in Europe it was an exercise of futility to hide from the church, though the King of Camelot was told to ask for secrecy from the church about the revival of legends long dead, "It is I, Roland of Francia!"

Dulio was not a close arms specialist -he was terrible in it for being one of the strongest humans to ever exist- but he had seen Durandal, and though this sword looked _very_ different when compared to the Durandal he had seen in the hands of Vasco Strada it was openly evident from the aura that the sword was Durandal.

The only problem was the current 'wielder', and didn't he use that term very lightly, of Durandal was wielded by a blue haired exorcist, a _female_ exorcist, and in front of him stood no female. There was only one Roland known to ever wield this sword, "The Holy Paladin died long ago"

His confused whisper only served to make the Paladin laugh, "HO if a little thing such as death could stop me then I wouldn't be the Paladin of Charlemagne!"

Minato sighed, equipping Helel he turned to the now confirmed member of the church, "Why're you here, aren't the church and heavenly forces not allowed to come onto devil territory?"

Dulio snorted, "This isn't the underworld" before he stopped that line of thought, clearly something had shifted in the blue haired boy, he suddenly radiated a great deal more light than before. Much like that burly mountain of a man otherwise called Vasco Strada, "I'm here to track some nuns taken away by Astaroth" A glint entered his eyes, "Someone needs to learn a lesson"

Minato nodded in approval of the action that sent an exorcist to retrieve the nuns even if the church knew them to be corrupted, of course he had no doubt their treatment would have been bad if not worse but anything was better than the devil they had killed to rescue them.

"Too late for that boy, we already rescued the nuns and killed that vile scum, though you can stay around for some time if you want to we're actually looking for a representative of the church to actually talk with"

Dulio raised an eyebrow, before he shrugged, if they turned out to support the devils he'd wreck them and leave anyways, "Eh will there be food?"

Aldred smiled before snapping his fingers and letting a multitude of magical chains and instruments reverse the damage done to the church, letting a table of food appear, "Let us break bread and then convene for a proper meeting of our three factions"

Dulio raised an eyebrow the Church would be one, them the second who would be the third, "What's the third faction?"

Aldred just smiled at him as another figure entered the room, looking at the sorcerer, "Is it safe?"

Aldred nodded, he had already put on a set of wards, though his wards were wildly different from Merlin's they were no less effective as he was a major contributor to the warding of one of the most fabled places in history.

Samael smiled before letting his wings come free, his halo steady over his head, "The Third would be heaven" Though he had yet to return to heaven he was a Seraph, a Seraph in service to the Messiah himself, it was no exaggeration that his word would be accepted again whenever he went back to heaven, taking his seat at the table he nodded at the dumbfounded Exorcist, "Eat friend the time to entertain your questions will arrive soon enough"

Dulio just sighed as he took his seat, "This is way above my paygrade" before he looked at the food, "Totally worth it though"

~o~o~o~o~o~

 **Feel free to drop a review, questions I can respond to in pm are done so and I'm seeing if I can compile guest responses into a different story without breaking rules maybe an Omake or One Shot thing.**


	8. Chapter 7

**~o~o~o~o~o~**

After they were done with their meal Minato had invited everyone outside to start the talks for the three factions, now they sat around a round table.

"I think there is one more that is needed on this table"

Samael's eyes flickered to the Messiah, "Anyone I know, M-y lord?" Samael had to correct himself at the last moment, making sure to not name Minato the Messiah in front of the exorcist, there would be a time the world would see the saviour reborn, but that day had not come yet.

Minato shook his head, "Not really, but Hades should be here for this, after all it was him that aided us greatly in our early endeavours. Being allied with him should see a friendly Olympus as well"

"That's fine by me, my plane is due for tomorrow so I can give you all the time you need your excellency" Dulio was calm on the outside inside a torrential fire of confusion raged, the Seraphim were known to be beholden to anyone but God, then why was this one addressing the blue haired boy as _his lord_ , as Minato went away carried by a portal Dulio suddenly remembered another important thing, "May I send correspondence to the Vatican, Lord Seraphim?"

Samael shrugged, "Do as you wish guardian, it is not under my purview to reprimand or command you regardless"

Dulio looked at the angel for a moment before shrugging and moving away taking out an ink pot and some parchment from the supplies that were provided to both him and the Archangel, it was about time he ask the Vatican what in God's name was happening and the time it would take for a diplomat to secretly arrive in Thebes, with his letter completed Dulio activated his Sacred Gear, using his mastery over the elements to swiftly let the letter move to his usual handler- the college of cardinals, by the end of the day the Vatican would finally take note and send a message informing him of the course of actions to be taken

Minato meanwhilst went into an adjoining room and summoned Helel who let his wings come out and called forth a portal, one to the Lord of the Greek Underworld.

Hades was, for once, not plotting the death of the bats and the crows or just sitting in his throne, for the last few days he was constantly searching for a way to explain the oddity that the blue haired represented, and how he brought with him a Zeus more than two millennia younger than his current age.

With a sigh he threw the latest book he was reading into the pile of used books, it too- like all others- had revealed little or nothing, it was then a white portal appeared in front of him, and much to his delight the one who could answer all his questions appeared in front him, He smirked at the twelve winged angel and the blue haired boy in front of him, "And pray tell, what have I done to earn this visit?"

'Go ahead Helel, make sure he's our ally by the end' Minato withdrew from the mental link with the former Prince of lies, if anyone could convince Hades to stop his quasi-neutral distaste for the fallen and the devils and become an ally of their faction, maybe the persona of Hades could have done it even better, but that would raise further questions he would rather not answer, "We came here to clear some vital doubts you may have Hades" Helel knew what the Lord of the Underworld had wanted, and he could give them to him- albeit half truths and deceptions rather than the complete truth.

Hades eyes glinted with eagerness, after days of suspense his curiosity would finally be sated, "Tell me Seraph, why is it that my brother was thousands of years younger than what he should have been?"

Helel smiled complying with the demand of the Greek god, "He was Zeus, but at the same time he was not Zeus, he was the God-King of Olympus yet not the God-King of Olympus" Seeing the irate look on Hades eye he continued, "What I mean to say is, he was Zeus, for through his veins coursed the same blood that ran through the god of Olympus" Hades narrowed his eyes, it should be impossible to clone a god, "Yet he was not Zeus for Zeus lay in Olympus, planning his alliance with the three factions, he was merely a Zeus summoned by the abilities of my lord"

Hades sighed, holding his nose, "Your lord, is he not dead?" An incredulous look entered his eyes, "the Dead don't summon gods, trust me I'd have known if they did child"

Helel shook his head, it was not the time, "My lord" his smile widened, "is not the Lord in heaven, do not misunderstand me I still love my father all the same, but it he who stands next to me"

Hades eyes shifted to the Messiah who stood straighter and had already equipped the Messiah, Helel continued the great reveal to one of the strongest gods of Olympus, " **The foremost Champion of . Humanity! The heir of Solomon! Master of the armies of both Hell and Heaven** "

Hades eyes had narrowed by now, there was only one man who was the rightful holder of such titles, and he was long dead, his passing mourned by most that lived, " _Impossible_ "

Helel's smile turned into the smirk that seemed to be destined to be present on his face, " **For who else do those of Heaven, Earth and Hell bow to, but the Messiah himself?** "

Minato finally equipped the Messiah Persona fully, letting the two merge for the first time, his hair turning to lustrous white, donning an armour of pure light, yet unlike the light of Angels no terror would be felt by even devils had they been present, for a brief moment Hades was blasted by an aura he had long since declared dead, before the Persona was withdrawn, light died down and the Messiah's hair turned back to blue with his armour dissipating into motes of light.

Wide eyes stared at him, how could the god of the underworld deny him anymore? He who was supposed to be dead stood in front of him again, for none had ever brightened the Underworld like the Messiah had before his passing, and now another stood in front of him, another with the same name and the same creed, with the same light and the same purity, Hades bowed his head to the Messiah before straightening, "What is it that this god can do for you today, Messiah?" an old smile flashed in the eyes of the Greek god of the Underworld.

Minato gave a short fleeting smile to the God, "All I ask is that Olympus stand by us in Thebes, when I finally announce myself to the world"

Hades nodded in agreement, "I will be there with Poseidon and Zeus, it would be remiss for us to miss the looks of horror the crows will sprout"

Helel snorted at the grin sported by Hades, "Do they truly fear the Messiah that much?"

"They have only ever feared three others as deeply as the Messiah" Hades replied, an easy smile on his face, "Namely Metatron, Helel and God"

Helel glanced at the Messiah, who only seemed inconspicuous with his Persona withdrawn, before remembering this was the same boy that had never budged regardless of how many times the weight of Erebus slammed into him, the same boy who had found **the answer** "Their fear might not be entirely irrational"

Hades chuckled, "Not at all, after all behind each myth hides a hint of the truth" the god waved his hand, "Please, do not let me hold you, it seems now I have something to do rather than plan the imminent destruction of devilkind"

Understanding a goodbye for what it was, Helel opened a portal back to the church, and after exchanging another round of well wishes he followed the Messiah back to the church.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Merlin walked along the frosty tundra of Greenland, laying down multiple traps for his next foe, though he hoped Millenia in ice had cooled the dragon down it was almost certain the dragon would show why he was an _evil_ dragon.

With his staff in his hand and a wardstone in his other hand he nested the wardstone in the ground letting one of the most severe warnings he could do to make the area secure, anti-dragon traps were cast and finally he looked for what he knew was here, an evil he defeated once, an evil he was determined to either end or permanently take care of, blue flame burned in his eyes, and a similar royal blue aura crushed anything next to him, Merlin was ready, and so with a final spell he summoned the prison of the evil dragon.

" _You!_ " the Dragon cussed at him, tried to strike out yet failed and finally settled down after a few minutes, huffing in annoyance.

Merlin raised an eyebrow, he would jest usually, but this foe was not one he took lightly, at his peak he had almost killed him, though definitely weakened over the years it was still strong enough to level cities if he let it go due to carelessness, "I agree it had been a rather long time" His eyes glared into the cold emotionless eyes of the dragon, " **Enough time for you to have thought over what you did,** ** _Nidhogg_** "

The dragon sniffed, "I did nothing wrong, the weak rule over the strong that is how this world works" The dragon sneered at the mage, "Surely you know that simple truth, archmage of Camelot?"

Merlin sighed letting his anger sink back into the deeper reaches of his mind, sitting down on a conjured chair, "I'm not here for banter dragon, I have a single demand in return for letting you out of this prison"

Nidhogg raised his head, "And what is it that the great mage of Camelot needs from a humble dragon like me?" Sarcasm dripped from the Dragon's voice but at the same time some inquisitiveness had entered it, Nidhogg was supposedly an evil dragon but despite his greed he respected power, and Merlin had power in spades.

"Forget our past enmity, serve my lord as redemption and in turn you will be set free" 'with restrictions of course' The last part only echoed in Merlin's mind.

Nidhogg froze for a moment, thinking about the offer given to him by the mage before a gale of laughter escaped his mouth, "The Mage of Camelot has taken a master?!" His rumbling laughter echoed throughout the field, "Where is the spine of the man who dared to face the Northern drake, and now you bend your knee to another weakling? Another useless-"

Merlin's eyes flashed as pillars of blue flames burst into existence next to him, "Silence beast! The offer is fairly simple, you are offered redemption for your massive crimes and yet you refuse an offer so generous?"

Nidhogg fell silent once more, contemplating the offer again, this time he gave thought to his enemy. If he took a master it would be one even stronger than him, one even stronger than the Archmage of Camelot, he continued thinking in silence and for the first time in his conversation with Merlin his face went back to a neutral one and finally he replied, "Very well then _wizard_ , I accept your offer" His nose flared as he disdainfully at the prison that still enveloped, "Now, release me from this _vile prison_ "

Merlin gazed emotionlessly at the dragon before nodding stiffly, with a snap of fingers the millenia old wards that held the ancient evil dragon collapsed and a ward stone slowly floated to Merlin, however before it could reach his hands a roaring inferno of flames shot at the Mage, like a tornado of malice.

Merlin tapped his staff on the ground, letting a barrier materialise and endure the flames of the dragon, "Should have got the hint from you being an evil dragon"

Pillars of blue energy shot at the Dragon who quickly flew up to dodge before casting silvery balls of energy at the mage who threw swatted them away before activating the first phase of a trap he had laid before summoning the dragon out to talk, "Show me wizard! Have you decayed? Or does magic still run through your body as strong as ever?"

Within the time it took the dragon to say these words spears of enchanted ice flew at the mage who nimbly dodged them still preparing to activate his trap, he raised his hand summoning a bolt of lightning to hit the dragon, the dragon attempted to dodge but it hit its tail, and with a grunt of pain Nidhogg cast a spell to temporarily patch him up but was it was when Merlin finalised his trap.

"You know dragon" Merlin asked, a smirk returning to his face as the mage, "Talking" Magic flared and lit up the sky behind the barrier surrounding them, chains of pure gold tangled around the evil dragon, trapping him where it stood before another barrier, this time red, surrounded, " **is not a free action** "

Nidhogg sighed, he was an evil dragon, a dragon of greed, yet all dragons had prides and as one of the strongest of dragons his pride had not allowed him to surrender to the mage and his outrageous demand of subordination, he bowed his head to the mage stiffly, "I have failed, I will obey your plans mage"

Nidhogg dropped the last of his shields and turned into his human form, a lean male of six feet with white hair and pale blue eyes fixed at the ground, before slowly with his magical swirling around him yet kept under check by Merlin and his own control, slowly but surely Nidhogg bent his knee to the Archmage of Camelot, "You have my service but beware, should I challenge you and defeat you" His eyes glinted with a hidden smile, "Then the ancient dragon Níðhöggr shall once more ravage the north, and this time no mage shall be found that can stop me!"

Merlin just stared at him, his words were truthful, that much he had already established but it was the worry that with him not constantly there to check on him it would lead to the dragon regressing to his savage habits, with a squeeze of his hands Nidhogg gasped in pain, these chains were made to contain anything, alongside that he had mixed in a weaker copy of Samael's anti-dragon light, it showed its prowess even whilst weakened as Nidhogg squirmed in agony, and just like it came it went away, Nidhogg heaved in relief whilst Merlin just stared at him, "You are an unrepentant murdered Nidhogg, and this should make it clear, should you not be faithful you will receive your rightful end sooner than you would expect it"

Nidhogg just stared back into Merlin's eyes, before scoffing, "Knew you still had guts mage, fine I shall" the Dragon paused, a smile on his face, "not _indulge_ in naughty habits of mine"

With a nod Merlin let the barrier around them fall, revealing the night sky of Greenland, he opened a portal walking towards it before turning back, "After you Nidhogg"

Nidhogg grinned at Merlin, "As you wish mage" before walking into the portal with the most innocent look he could muster, whistling an old tune that in all likelihood no human remembered and Merlin did not care to learn.

Merlin's eyes finally stopped their blue flame routine and his staff was dismissed back to where it remained out of use, "Very well Nidhogg" A smile flashed on his face as he walked towards the portal, "Lets see you shiver in your boots when Samael inevitably finds you" perhaps his vindictive streak was not as gone as anyone else would have liked to think, sometimes the Wise Councillor of Camelot could be one of the most vindictive people in history, after Mordred was defeated by the next Pendragon king the Mage had hunted down his soul, and perhaps in one of his most shameful and furious moments he eradicated the soul of Mordred from existence.

Though Mordred and the other Personas of Camelot were still slightly cold to each other, generally they were rather tolerant of each other after the they were sealed, yet the Persona had whitened like a sheet after seeing Merlin for the first time in this world before fleeing in panic, probably scared of the mage after reviewing the memories of the Mordred of this world, Merlin had just sighed, he could not say he would have not done the same in his rage if it happened again (though now Arthur couldn't die permanently and it greatly aided his restraint).

~o~o~o~o~o~

Whilst Merlin roamed the frozen lands of Greenland, Arthur was encountered with a new problem, as he sat in his old throne he had protested after his death he was no longer the king of Camelot, with Excalibur stowed behind his throne he held Caliburn in his hands, seeing no point in shielding its aura he let the Holy sword pulsate its usual holy aura.

His head snapped to Laurence entering the chambers, "Any news of the guests from the church? They were supposed to present themselves an hour ago"

Laurence nodded, "They did arrive an hour ago my lord, but they had to refresh themselves, they are requesting an audience with your majesty"

Arthur nodded in assent, "Let them in" Laurence nodded and left to gather his charges missing the last mumbled from Arthur, "I swear my bum gets stiffer each time I sit in this chair"

His mind wandered to the most recent adventure Merlin had wandered off to, though he had told him to wait so that they could confront the evil dragon together the stubborn mage had went on regardless.

The delegation of the church finally entered, a hulking man carrying a sword that radiated the same aura as Durandal but it was noticeably weaker it was not what took his attention, it was the blue and brown haired women that took his breath away.

When he heard that Excalibur was broken he was shocked but he instantly made an attempt to call for the pieces of his loyal friend, he _knew_ that if any piece of Excalibur existed it would come to him, displaying the uncharacteristic loyalty wielded by the sword that was like a part of him.

The male was the one to open conversation, "Salutations lord Pendragon, I bring you greetings from the church, I am Vasco Strada- the former wielder of Durandal"

Arthur could not hear him for his ears had no attention for the burly man, no his attention was entirely focused on his sword his precious sword, he now knew why Excalibur could not communicate with him, sealed within those husks that drained the piece of whatever power it could offer and molding it to the twisted feature each sword had, one to destroy the other to change form.

How could his sword even offer the barest of messages to him when it didn't even have enough power light up a room, "Your Majesty!" Laurence's voice finally snapped him out of his stupor, he blinked seeing the two females jostled by his relentless staring at them.

He turned his gaze at the burly man, "Welcome to Camelot Exorcist Strada-"

He was cut off by Vasco Strada, "I'm afraid I am no longer an exorcist" after seeing the furious look on Laurence's face the former exorcist blushed a little, "Your majesty"

Arthur shook his head in amusement, "You know of me?"

Strada narrowed his eyes at him, "I know who you claim to be"

Arthur shook his head, his mind wandering to his precious sword, and suddenly the amusement drained out, "Tell me clergyman, who reforged my broken sword into this atrocity you defile the name Excalibur with?"

"I'm afraid that is a church secret my lord" the priest staring at the King, "One I am not authorised to reveal to any that might happen to ask"

Laurence glared at him, "Do not be impudent Lord Strada, it is his grace that still allows the church to wield the Excalibur fragments"

Vasco Strada huffed, "You keep claiming he is the first king without providing any proof, how is it that you expect me to believe your claims when you give no proof?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow, "It is proof you want?" Seeing Vasco nod he nodded at Irina, "Child, hand me your blade, it is the one imbued with transformation, right?"

Irina nodded before hesitantly glancing at Vasco who nodded, "Let him have it, the sword will surely reject his claim"

Irina looked at Arthur before biting her lip and extending her sword hilt first, "here you go Lord Pendragon"

Arthur would have smiled but touching the sword, feeling the agony of the pieces as they powered these husks that entrapped them, he would want nothing more than to break them, but the Messiah had ordered them to not make an enemy out of the church just yet, and so he gently pushed his inherent light into the blade, letting its form bubble as the husk slowly shifted, shifted into something more, a sword of fable, a sword of dreams and hopes.

The Exorcists and Vasco gasped at the slow change, slowly but surely the changes were definitive, before too late the sword that was in Arthur's hands had turned into a beautiful and regal sword for a moment the light of his sword sung and the hearts of those in the rooms lightened before a horrid screech caused due to the sword straining to carry the full prowess of Excalibur caused Arthur to stop pumping light into the sword and it quickly reverted to its former form, he nodded at Irina passing the sword back, "Here you go lass, take care of it, out of all the pieces this one is the second closest to my old sword"

Taking the sword back shaking with awe, she nodded, "Your majesty" with a mumble she continued to stare at the King of Camelot, whilst Xenovia stared at him in another way all together, and Vasco finally answered his question, "The answer your majesty"

Vasco Strada gulped, for the first time in his life nervous, "It was with the generous aid of the Grigori Azazel we reforged the swords into the seven Excaliburs"

 **"** **You let a fallen touch Excalibur?!"** Arthur was up on his feet and Caliburn let out a roar of energy similar to its owners mind, outraged at what happened to its sister blade, everyone including Laurence were blasted back to the wall, all around him furniture was smashed to bits.

As he stared at the brown haired girl and the fear that stood prominent in her eyes Arthur shakily sat back, it all fit in, first Azazel garners the mistrust of Helel- the most forgiving of the redeemed, then Shiva says for some reason his real self considered him the most sinister (though why was not a memory he had gained), Excalibur should have been given to the Fae God-King Oberon to reforge, for he could have gave the blade a new form like the first time, or even Merlin, yet it was the deceptive fallen that touched his sword and made it into the husks the church had, anger once more threatened to break out, He and Excalibur were two sides of the same coin, without him there was no Excalibur and without Excalibur there was no Arthur, Excalibur was no mere sword it was a _part of him_ , never had the king of Camelot felt so utterly _violated, and it made him furious._

 **(I'm sorry if it looks like this is bashing but unfortunately it's pretty much canon that one of the good guys calls Azazel the most sinister Fallen, and remember Lucifer was one of them once, the Sadist Barquiel was also there, and where did Azazel get those Vitra Sacred gears to infuse into Saji? Sacred gears don't grow on trees)**

He looked at the girl again, fear present in her eyes, her lip quivered and she clutched her head, and just like that his anger drained away and resolve clutched him once more, rage did not define him, he was Arthur the promised king of Albion, he shook his head, "My deepest apologies, it seems for once my temper got the best of me"

Vasco Strada only looked at him and then around at the destroyed furniture, "Was there any reason for such a reaction your majesty?"

Arthur's eyes glinted with a drop of rage before a sea of calm took over again, "Never is there a need for rage, it is my failure that rage got the better of me, but the more I know the less it seems even his brother would forgive Azazel"

Arthur looked outside the window, "Once Merlin is back we shall leave for Kuoh, there you can meet my lord" his eyes wavered at the younger girls, "Though I'm afraid the younger ladies will have to go back to the Vatican"

Xenovia's eyes widened, ignoring the second part of what Arthur said "There is someone even stronger than you your majesty?"

Arthur laughed gently running a hand through his hair, "None follow him for his power my dear" He glanced at the clock, "All who follow the Messiah follow him because of who he is and his glorious creed, never has a human like him existed, and in all likelihood, never will a human like him ever exist"

Vasco blinked once, he blinked twice, "The **_what?!_** "

Arthur blinked, "Oh, I never told you about the Messiah did I?"

~o~o~o~o~o~

Minato once more found himself on the table with Dulio and Samael, "I apologise for the delay, it appears there was more to discuss with Hades than I had assumed"

Samael just shook his head, "It is fine My lord, it is hardly your fault, we have as much time as you need"

Dulio smiled sheepishly, "I suppose we do, the church wrote back that they'll send a representative to Thebes, especially since Heaven is also participating"

Minato nodded, "That is a pleasant development" before looking at Roland who had joined them again, he was meant to be the spokesperson for him here.

Roland smiled at the angel and the exorcist, "As it stands I propose that we ally with each other, the Church can help us with important gaps in our knowledge of history whilst we can lend our great might to the church if their mission is to aid one in distress"

Dulio glanced at the open letter in his palm, 'We trust you to make the best decision for the Church and Humanity, signed Pope' he sighed, it was _not_ above his pay grade anymore, "I can only agree, the church will be happy to work with your excellency and Lord Seraph"

Samael grinned, "Though I speak for only myself, I have no doubt the heavenly host will find it pleasing they can quit the preservation they were forced into" his visage darkened slightly, "For too long innocents have been punished, the guilty let go off and the pure tainted, and as all this happened we could do nothing but watch because of our dwindling strength" A red hue surrounded his eyes, his voice echoed through a place it was not supposed to echo through, " **But as off now, I, Samael- the Archangel of Destruction, declare this period of preservation over! No longer shall the innocent suffer and savages roam free! We of heaven have sat on our gilded thrones for aeons, that time is over, that chapter is closed, the devils have long forgotten our might, they think us weak! They steal the gift our father gave to humanity without fear! Without shame! It is time for the world to remember, those days when demons quivered and dragons bowed before our might! Those days when nought a single unjust ruling was let off! Hear this declaration those of heaven and the faithful! For this is the my vow! The vow of the Archangel of Destruction! That the time of inaction has ceased, the time has come to once more protect the mandate of our father, and with it usher a new age for Heaven!** "

Dulio clapped at the end of the proclamation, with a content smile on his face, Roland stared at Samael with some surprise in his eyes, but that surprise was overwhelmed with a cheery smile.

And the Messiah just stared at the angel, both knew that speech was something to cheer up his brethren, lighten the weight of guilt that crushed Michael and renew the faith of the faithful in Heaven, he nodded in approval, a smile blossomed on Samael's face, an honest and genuine smile.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Michael looked at the other three Seraphs just when they were about to leave his voice filled each corridor, each path in Heaven, furthermore every member of the Church aware of the supernatural reported they heard the announcement, "This is _new_ " Raphael was the first one to speak, opening up the discourse.

But for once it was not Gabriel radiating happiness, radiating joy was none other than Michael, for the first time in millenia a real smile lit up in his eyes, before he laughed in joyous deliria, "This is great!" His eyes sparkled with a new wave of happiness, "A bother restored!"

For once both Sandolphan and Raphael also shared the same smile, Michael continued, "Phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal, Samael actually repented!"

Sandolphan smiled, the mere presence of the smile on Michael's face lit up the room, was it truly so long since he had smiled true that its light blinded them? "Aye brother, for once we have _gained_ a number, for once we are _stronger_ rather than weaker after day!"

Michael stood up, though his usual calm took its place on his face the usual sadness that he carried seemed muted, it was still there, but for a moment, for this single moment it was pushed back by the joy he felt, "I must talk to him, and Azrael, surely she must be with him, two of the Seraphim back, imagine that"

Gabriel smiled brightly, "I'll be coming along, it had been a long time since I've seen sister and brother"

Michael just nodded before exiting the sixth palace followed by Gabriel, they were off to Kuoh, that was where they had tracked him too, and they would be damned if some puny devil politics kept their brother from them, nothing would keep Michael and her from once more reuniting with the remnants of the Seraphim. Determination lit up in her eyes and a weapon long forgotten by her appeared with its sheathe, _nothing_.

 **~o~o~o~o~o~**

 **Little bit hesitant about this chapter but I think it turned out** ** _decent,_** **I honestly believe the pacing should better, we haven't even had the Arthur-Church chat and the Three Factions Meeting yet after all.**

 **Review and tell me how it turned out, and thanks for all the support you guys have given, I never thought the story would cross 200 follows much less the current amount!**

 **Thanks again!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Reworked.**

~o~o~o~o~o~

Much like Heaven, Olympus was situated in separate space from the mortal world, it was a group of gigantic floating mountains, with six primary settlements walled and connected to each other. Made of divine marble, Olympus, after Heaven and Asgard was one of the most impregnable places in the world.

That was of course without even considering the residents of Olympus, though the Greek Pantheon had few living followers they were still one of the few Pantheons that were truly united and all three of the trinity gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades still ruled Olympus.

And of course unlike Heaven, who after the death of God could no longer fully mobilise the Seven heavens in one location Olympus was still capable of deploying the full might of Olypmus.

Hades walked to the giant doors of Olympus, it had been quite a while since they had a proper meeting, especially one with all the major gods of Olympus. The last time was probably Zeus announcing the pact of friendship with Heaven, and now here he was, proposing his own alliance with the Messiah, the part of him that had vehemently pursued skewed neutrality was both happy and upset, unlike what many would presume despite being a god of dead Hades was rather fond of watching humans develop, from the time they built the Great Circus of Rome to the various Arcs and Monuments, it never ceased to fascinate him how they kept making more and more things, each as new as the predecessor, and thus he was quite cross at the Biblical factions, two for letting such actions go unpunished and Heaven for letting such a day come to pass.

So the god opposed any alliance with the Christian Factions, and yet here he was, absentmindedly nodding in greeting to the various minor gods that bowed to him, going into the meeting room to propose pacts that he would have vehemently opposed had the Messiah not revealed himself, which was another issue in itself, many loved and admired the iconic figure, just like that many had nought but the most vile hate for him, then again most of them were dead so it was not worth his attention at the moment, and of course there was the fact the new Messiah was different yet same.

His eyes fixed on Zeus' inquisitive face as entered the throne room and took his throne, right next to Zeus, with the other Olympians already present.

Zeus coughed raising his voice, "It has been some time brother" it was a warm tone, once there was a bitter rivalry between the Trinity Gods but over the millennia they had finally managed to gain a good rapport with each other, "As good as it is for us to meet, what news do you bring brother" He quirked his eyebrow, finishing dryly, "That it couldn't wait till the Summer Solstice meeting?"

Hades just shook his head, "It has come to my attention, that this alliance might be agreeable to even I" Zeus' eyes widened before he smiled brightly at his brother, "Well that's fantastic brother, a feast-!"

"I found another faction, one I'd love for Olympus to ally with, of course after finalising our pact with Heaven" Hades words stopped any conversation in the chamber, Hades wished to ally two factions?, "One that contains the Messiah"

One sentence was all it took for chaos to break through the throneroom of Olympus, Gods shouting over each other with the few exceptions being Poseidon who was coughing after getting caught off guard whilst drinking and Athena who was noting down questions to ask when Hades could actually answer.

Hades rolled his eyes, probably should have mentioned it was not the first Messiah.

~o~o~o~o~o~

After the concise meeting with Dulio both Samael and Minato had gone two ways, whilst Samael went to check on Azrael in France Minato was dressed in their usual attire of a white cloak draped over the black jacket and trousers, he was followed by both Roland and Aldred, they really needed to find a better name for him, walking through Akihabara, even though plenty of people were in their own costumes they were rather easily standing out of the crowd with Roland's hulking armoured frame walking with them, with some tourists going as far as to take photos with the poor paladin who could only nod politely and stand in the picture.

Aldred yawned, he was already scanning the crowd and had identified nearly five Yokai beginning their move towards them, he took a seat on the bench preparing the most fouls traps if the Yokai even hinted at the barest edges of treachery, seeing the Messiah nod at his handiwork he grinned with a thumbs up, his was the power of the fae, regarded for their wards and of course, he had made quite a few artifacts in his life.

Sifting through the crowd Kunou finally made it through with the teleportation scrolls secure in her robes, by the time she had reached the Messiah he had already equipped Helel, and passively stared at her, before nodding at her in greeting, "I gave my word, thus here I stand, it would be for the best if you discuss any concerns you had now"

"You have my greetings on behalf of the Yokai factions Angel-dono, but first" She took out a scroll, handing it to the Messiah and holding her own scroll herself, "We should get more privacy to discuss these sensitive matters, Angel-dono"

Aldred raised an eyebrow as the human crowd suddenly began ignoring them, "Interesting Spell"

Kunou's ear twitched before she turned to the Messiah's companion, "Thank you Mage-san, please hold on to the scroll now, I'll activate them and then we can talk away from prying eyes"

Roland frowned, "Surely normal humans are no threat to secrecy with proper spells?"

Kunou just gazed at the Shinto temple, "It is not the humans I refer to"

Minato raised his eyebrow, before shrugging, and clutching his scroll with Aldred and Roland, and within moments both winked away much to the amusement of a god watching from the skies, Susanoo just snorted, "It's never easy is it?"

~o~o~o~o~o~

After arriving the three members in white cloak were seated calmly, whilst Yasaka entered and Kunou made some tea, "It is an honour to greet you Lord Seraph" Interestingly the Yokai had started with Latin, maybe since it was Heaven's preffered mortal tongue?

Minato smiled, letting some of Helel's natural charisma leak into him, "It my honur as well Yasaka-dono, but I'm afraid the time for pleasantries is something I'm rsther short on at the moment"

Yasaka took her position around the square table, when Roland finally asked a pressing question, "Is there a problem between the Shinto Pantheon and the Yokai? We'd have though your factions would be natural allies"

Kunou just continued pouring tea before taking her own seat whilst Yasaka frowned slightly, and replied "After the nekomata _massacre_ " Her lips curled slightly in disgust at the word massacre, "We had protested against such treatment by the devils, but at the end of the day our pressure could not move the devils, the Yokai contain only one being that could rival the four Satans, or the various family heads that are obtusely powerful, though the Shinto Faction combined with us could have forced the devils to not go to such cruel extents during the massacre"

As Minato analysed this information it was Aldred, whose lips were sealed in a grimace, who responded to the situation, "That sounds like a rather cowardly deed" seeing the heated look on the formerly calm Yokai leader's face face he raised his hands, "I can assure you Yasaka-dono, we don't support genocides, we have talked with Satan Sirzechs and it does seem inability to tell a bunch of whiny brats no served as an important reason why such a deplorable event happened"

"Is this why the Shinto gods and the Yokai do not like each other?"

Yasaka shook her head at the question from the Messiah, "Not really, we are still allied with them, but the Yokai are certainly seeking new allies, to replace our current ones but we have had grave difficulty, with how the devils view us as nothing but objects for their procreation and us too weak to actually start a war with them we have to stick with this semi-warm relations with the Shinto and the Devils, they still certainly protect us at large, once when a devil overstepped their bounds and might have started a war but Susanoo-dono made sure an agreement was reached and war avoided" She looked pointedly at the Messiah, "And Heaven does nothing to contain their foes either"

Minato grimaced, letting an outraged Helel frown outwardly, "You know nothing of our problems girl, there is a reason for our inaction"

Minato blinked taking control back seeing the wide eyes of the Princess and the guard that was also gaping from the entrance, "A-An Archangel?!"

Ignoring her shriek Roland just shook his head, "We understand what you mean, and our faction would be quite amiable to protecting any who truly need protection"

Minato passed a small piece of paper to her, ignoring the jibe, "If you ever truly need our help to protect an innocent, be it Yokai or Human you may call upon us"

The Messiah continued to talk on some other issued but with the lion's share of the matter dealt with soon they were up and exiting through a green gate opened by Aldred.

It was only after they left Yasaka stood up patting her daughters head, "You did good Kunou-chan, though I wonder why a man bearing symbols dating nearly 8 Centuries back, an Archangel and a Fae were doing together"

Kunou nodded, "It was an odd group. Very odd group, though it looked like the third person was human"

"I thought so to dear but his magic gave him away, Fae magic feels different from Human magic" She shook her head, tugging Kunou back home with her, "Never mind, we'll talk of later today this was the best deal for us Kunou-chan"

~o~o~o~o~o~

Sirzechs was merrily sitting on his wonderful office chair, when his phone rung, dutifully picking up he was quick to answer back, "Satan Sirzechs here"

"M-My lord, you have to come!" The voice was urgent, further on it sounded very close to fainting, " _quick_!"

SIrzechs quickly got up hearing the panicked voice of one of the guards he had hidden in Kuoh, " **Wha** -"

" _There's an unrealistically perfect couple roaming the streets! Please save us, they're too perfect!_ "

Sirzechs sighed, "Deal with it" and hung up the phone returning to his wonderful chairs and daydreaming that was probably best left in his mind and never brought to light.

In Kuoh however a devil dropped haplessly to the ground, his mind wiped of his most recent observations, wounds healed by the mage that had done the deed turned towards two sheepish angels, he sighed letting go of his disguise as green light enveloped him and he embraced his true form, "And what can I do for you today?"

Michael's eyes narrowed in concentration, he swore he could remember the fae from somewhere, now if he could only recollect which fae it was, "Have we met before fae?"

Oberon shrugged, probably they had met his real counterpart during the time they had given Excalibur to Arthur or at Arthur's funeral, "Perhaps once, maybe twice, but it is of no concern child, surely you know this is devil territory?"

Frowning, the angel shook his head, before his eyes twinkled as the memory rushed back- he had seen him on the day Arthur was gifted Excalibur! "From the looks of it you are in the same boat as us your grace"

Chortling Oberon dismissed the Devil back to his post in pristine condition and set up an actual ward to contain their presence, "Unlike you lot I didn't come here with my diamond stick out and wings coloured fluorescent green" was it wrong to call his beautiful sword a diamond stick? Probably, but he wasn't that idiot that got offended at the mere mention of his treasure, he looked at their halos, "Or with circles of light over my head"

It was the pouting sister that replied this time, "Forgive us if we harmed your operation Lord Oberon, but as it stood we thought it would take us a shorter time to find Samael and Azrael should we not hide" she looked at their not so secret angelic attire and smiled sheepishly, "Perhaps our hurry was too great"

Oberon sighed, summoning a portal to France, "Well you'd have greater luck finding a needle in a haystack than Samael in Kuoh"

Michael's eyes latched on to him, his hand close to the hilt of the sword he carried, "We would appreciate if you shared any news of our siblings with us" His hand had already removed itself, at times he got protective over his siblings but he knew the tone Oberon spoke of his kin with, it was like an uncled amused at their niece or nephews antics, not one carried any contempt or harm.

"Which one?" He snorted softly, remembering the archangels residing in the Sea of Souls, "There's an entire flock of them"

Michael's eyes widened, his gaze turned into an inquisitive one, "More of my kin live than those I know off?'

"I wouldn't know, they certainly are your siblings and they certainly are real " ' _in a way_ ' He shrugged, "To be honest other than Samael and Azrael I don't see the rest joining you lot in heaven"

"And why is that?" Gabriel's eyes were furrowed in worry, though happy to know more of her kin survived it was suspicious an angel would refuse to come back to heaven, it was their home after all. The most solid memory their father had left in the material world.

Oberon gave them a sad smile, he knew their reason- even if the Messiah did not command them, even if they wished to go home, they would refuse. Not out of dislike nor out of a lack of love, oh they still loved their kin in heaven. No it was the idea behind these angels, they were myth personified, the harbingers of light brought to life- they knew nought but to act in his stead and be as just or fair their myth portrayed them to be, their time in the Seal and then whatever memories they had gained from their counterpart had done them good to deviate greatly from their origins, but at the end of the day they held true to certain tenants. Heaven had chosen to ignore the helpless to preserve themselves for the greater good and protect humanity from afar, whereas they would not falter nor bow no matter the odds or the opposition they would fight for their duty, and that was what kept them from joining heaven other than their intense loyalty to the Messiah, an unbreakable passion to never abandon their duty.

He patted Gabriel' shoulder gently, "It is quite simple, whilst Heaven has- understandably- chosen to preserve themselves all the whilst in contrast they have chosen to fight in his name till the end, swearing to not let injustice go unpunished"

The current lord of the Sixth Heaven hung his head low, now it was his fault as those of the Seraphim who had miraculously survived the war refused to join, how could he blame them, when it was him that had knowingly pulled back so much? "Then I can do nothing but offer them my apologies, King Oberon, for perhaps I have failed them more than I could ever imagine"

Answered by a flick to his forehead, Michael stared at the God-King of the Fae again, "Oh ease up child, they are not angry nor are they sad, they are rather happy that someone is taking care of Heaven" He smiled at the angels, "Besides the first reason they would avoid returning to heaven is not that" His smile developed into a mischievous smirk, "Rather they refrain from returning because it is the Messiah they serve, and so long as his body draws breath and his cause stands true" His own magic gently came to life, it was a warm glow, feeling akin to a hearth, "Never shall we leave his side, **for he is us and we are he** " At that point the wide eyed angelic duo had not understood the underlying meaning to the words offered by the God-King, more shocked by an entirely other detail.

"The Messiah lives?!" The shriek came not from Gabriel who gaped in shock but from Michael, a smile blossomed on his face, "Tis a wondrous occasion then! Lead us to the Messiah it would be our honour to greet him on his return!"

Oberon shook his head, "Perhaps in virtues their is little difference between him and the First Messiah but the First had his own trials and enemies, he has gone through untold pain and sacrifice to save Humanity, He is him yet he is not him" His eyes twinkled, "I suppose you can say, he is the _Second_ Messiah"

Oberon just smiled, "Besides the church already met him, and his agents already spread to protect Humanity and raise a new generation of heroes that can protect them" He pointed towards the portal, "Go and meet your siblings first child, the time draws near when the Messiah finally reveals himself, he will meet you but for now he had quite a few places to run too, old allies to meet and new threats to keep a check on"

Michael looked at him hesitantly and Gabriel bit her lip thoughtfully they both known the Messiah, he was a kindly man- quite powerful to- a living embodiment of goodness he had done much for Humanity when he roamed the Earth, before he was killed, no one ever knew who killed him, except perhaps for her father- but the certainly never revealed it if he knew- though it definitely kick started the second phase of the great war, he was greatly respected by both the Cohorts of Heaven and the Fallen, who try as they might never quite managed to hate the kindly human, Demons were cautious with the man often choosing to bow in grudging acknowledgement of his strength and withdraw before they dared to engage him, and though this was not the same man, he was a Messiah that was supported by the God-King of Avalon.

It was due to his friendship with his predecessor they wanted to meet him, but thinking of her siblings overwhelmed the last hesitancy she had as she nodded to the God-King, mumbling a thanks for his kindness before entering the portal, dragging Michael with her, who chose not to resist and said his own thanks before he to was finally pulled into the portal, Leaving Oberon alone to his own devices as he repapplied his own disguise and opened a gate back to their own base, going back to monitoring the base, and the situation of the small town, writing a quick report to give to the Messiah once he arrived from the meeting he was attending, it was a hectic month then they'd have to send help to the Gremory heiress and then arrange a new faction grand opening in Thebes, though there the church would probably assist them greatly in setting up the place, especially since it was in their stronghold of Europe.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Samael had chosen to visit Arthur before convening with his sister and thus had ambushed him right after the hectic events for the day, finding the King sitting in the courtyard watching his students (and two other women) training he landed next to Arthur in a gust of wind, "Already training your young adventurers my friend?"

Shrugging the King turned to face him, "Well we all can't just loaf around can we?"

He had been ignored by the trainees who he had been careful to disguise himself from, nothing major, he merely used the most basic of illusions to cover his wings, and he was ignored by the King's students only making the Exorcists stop and move over to get a better look at him, as he thought of looks he gazed at the King of Camelot lazing on the bench, "Yes, not all of us can loaf like you, your majesty"

Arthur smiled before pointing at the sun, "It's a good day to loaf around my friend, besides you seem to have encountered a curious audience"

The archangel quirked his eyebrow at the three, as an angel he could sense the faith in the man and the leaner girls, it was definitely very very strong, greatly stronger than than the blue haired girl, she was definitely faithful too but just not as, well if he had to describe it he would say it lacked depth compared to the other two but then again they were harsh comparisons, both were deeply devoted and the hulking man even larger than him, he nodded at the leader of the Trio, "Anything I can do for you child?"

Strada snorted before shaking his head, "I'm older than I look" He developed a glint for knowledge in his eyes, "I meant to ask, who are you" His eyes moved to Arthur, "That you refer to the Greatest King of Pendragons as a friend?"

Samael shrugged however before he could reply one of Merlin's gates opened and out of it came-, "You are not Merlin"

Samael's eyes narrowed before his illusion broke and twelve wings of pure white flooded the courtyard in light, with Strada's eyes widening and his bowing his head in respect, whilst both Xenovia and Irina fell to the ground staring at the angel in reverence, if Arthur was their ideal then one of the Seraphim was second to only God himself.

Nidhogg now knew why Merlin thrusted him through that portal, he had only one thought in his mind, that was sheer terror, Samael was not supposed to be a Seraph, moreover he was scared senseless! The Bane of dragons was in front of him, and anger ran through his eyes, " _Sorry_?" he squeeked.

Even as Merlin came the angel moved swiftly, his eyes having a red hue of his signature variation to his light, within a second Nidhogg was slammed into a tree that would have gone flying if not for Merlin's quick thinking despite the suddenness of the attack and managing to root the tree, " **Foul Dragon, you dare show your face around me?!** "

Nidhogg shifted around trying to turn into his dragon form but before he could complete his fruitless endeavour Merlin save his life by finally speaking up, "Calm down Samael, much like yourself he was offered clemency, and he accepted it" ' _However grudgingly'_ Not that Merlin voiced his thoughts.

Samael grunted, before throwing the dragon to Merlin's feet, "If he steps out of line it is not you he will have to deal with Archmage but me, the Angel of Destruction"

Merlin shrugged, "Sure feel free to make Dragon Salami if he rebels" The Dragon looked up alarmed before giving another response, this time finally getting over some of his fear away, but as it stood no Dragon could ever be easy around the Bane of Dragons, "I will never betray my word"

Samael huffed, "Keep him under watch my friends, I'll just go over and stick with Azrael" He sniffer, "I am not eager to be in the company of an evil dragon"

Strada looked at the angel, "Any command for us my lord?"

Samael shrugged, "Though this message is more for your students who wield rather significant swords, try and have more faith in him, he works in truly mysterious ways" and just like that the Seraph was gone in a flash leaving Pandemonium to start as Arthur demanded order.

The Archmage sighed at the noise before sitting on Nidhogg, ignoring his protest, "Children, this isn't a debate hall" seeing no effect he sighed and continued ignoring his seat.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Dulio entered the chambers of the Pope, bowing to the leader of their faction and bowing his head to the Cardinals present.

With utmost care the Pope took out a letter that everyone had, "Is it established that everyone has gone through this letter?"

Receiving an affirmative nod he continued, "Then I continue, to start I agree with the general statements and observations provided by delegate Dulio I must agree an alliance will be most beneficial to us, especially if Heaven has deemed this man worthy to ally with, "Then let us not delay this vote"

Dulio called the vote due to the Pope himself participating, "With two abstaining and eleven supporting the alliance has indeed passed" he nodded to the Pope, "I propose a delegation to the Thebes Meeting, it would be most important for the Church to be represented"

The Pope nodded before patting Dulio, "Indeed Delegate Dulio, we will decide on your team for this mission"

Dulio sweatdropped, once more he was dragged into this meeting, he sighed, "As you wish your excellency"

~o~o~o~o~o~

 **Sorry it took time but it was real life interfering I had and still have to prepare for my exams and do my projects, quite exhaustive work that leaves me with little down time to write. Hope you liked the chapter, and remember reviews are fuel to an author's fire!**


	10. Rewrite Poll Status

**Author's Note:**

 **Probably Everyone who's followed the fic is getting update notifications just to assure everyone the fic is not abandoned and I'm currently rewriting it and uploading the chapters. A poll is on my profile, vote if you want me to rewrite it as another story or continue doing so in this one.**

 **The chapter's redone:**

 **Prologue - Done**

 **Chapter 1 - Done**

 **Chapter 2 - Done**

 **Chapter 3 - Partially Done**

 **Chapter 4 - Begun Editing**

 **Chapter 5 - Not Started**

 **Chapter 6 - Not Started**

 **Chapter 7 - Not Started**

 **Chapter 8 - Not Started**

 **Chapter 9 - Not Started**

 **Feel free to head over to spacebattles or pm me for the discord link if you want to converse more easily about the story, or just pm me that works as well.**


	11. Author's Note about new story!

**Hey guys! I'm back with the rewritten story, same title so it shouldn't be difficult to find, unfortunately, the delay was due to me not finding time as I had to give the last of my school exams and uni entrance exams. So that's done and dusted and now we can have daily revamped updates again!**


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